Zambia Forestry and Forest Industry Corporation (ZAFFICO) 2020 debut listing on the Lusaka Securities Exchange (LuSE) may be delayed following an approval by Securities Exchange Commission to extend the share subscription window by an additional week according to sources close to the matter. The State Owned Enterprise (SOE) has its initial offering set to run for 6 weeks beginning 11 December 2019 to close on 21 January 2020 but will close a week further on 28 January. This is a listing targeted at raising the K329million ($23million) expansionary capital accounting for 40% of equity the state will be passing on to the public.
“The timing of the offer somewhat incapacitated some local institutional investors to gather the requisite approvals to participate as the IPO opened during the festive period when most entities where winding into industrial break,” a source said in a note.
It appears 2020 will be an interesting year for LuSE. At the start of this year NAPSA received proposals from 5 companies who expressed interest in providing a tender brokerage and advisory services for the NAPSA SPV listing aimed for end of 2Q20. The special purpose vehicle will manage the hotel affairs of the pension fund such as Garden Court and Stay Easy. Also plans for the listing of ZISC life have reached an advanced stage.
ZAFFICO listing will bring the total corporate names on the stock score board to 24.
The Kwacha Arbitrageur
