Similarly, the Airtel Uganda IPO in November 2023 was opened to regional participants. In Tanzania, foreign investors were allowed to effectively underwrite the Vodacom Tanzania IPO in 2017, after initially being locked out. The country also operated without a formal stock exchange until October 2023, when it set up the Ethiopian Securities Exchange (ESX) through a partnership between its finance ministry, the government’s strategic investment arm Ethiopian Investment Holdings (EIH) and Nairobi-based FSD Africa. Despite locking out foreigners from the debut IPO, the establishment of the Ethiopian securities exchange included an initial capital raise targeting $11.07 million (Sh1.43 billion), which was open to external participants. Others included 16 domestic private commercial banks, 12 private insurance companies and 17 other private domestic investors.

Source: Ethiopian News October 20, 2024 09:34 UTC