JSE Peers Cool on Pan-African Board

The JSE has proposed a continental board that would list stocks in some of the biggest companies in Africa. It has also been promoting the advantages to African exchanges of having their companies dually listed in the same way the JSE has benefited from the London listing of companies such as Old Mutual and SABMiller.

The JSE’s proposal was to capitalise on growing interest in Africa among western investors, according to the Financial Times. However, the Nigeria Stock Exchange and Nairobi Stock Exchange said they were not in a hurry to partner with the JSE.

The head of strategy and new products at the Nigeria exchange, Farooq Oreagba, said the exchange was keen to cultivate ties with the London Stock Exchange and others.

He said the idea of creating a pan-African board based on the JSE proposal was “never going to work politically", and would benefit only the JSE .

“No country is going to say ‘we will become part of the JSE’. The only beneficiary would be the JSE ," he said.

“We are not going to prevent anyone listing there, but to say we are going to package them and push them out there, there is no mileage in that."

Nairobi Stock Exchange chairman Jimnah Mbaru was equally unimpressed with the plan, saying the exchange was not ready for dual listings or a partnership. “There would be a serious danger of our market disappearing overnight," he said.

But the JSE maintained there was merit in its plan. “The pan-African board is a work in progress so there will be those that resist the initiatives and those that see the merit. We are hoping there are more (of) the latter as we believe there is huge merit in the board,” said Maureen Dlamini, head of Africa strategy at the JSE.

“This is not about SA taking a dominant role but an opportunity for the whole of Africa to reap the benefits of increasing foreign investor interest.”