(2 minutes)
- A new era is opening up for the Central African financial market, with the merger of the Douala and Libreville stock exchanges in 2019. The exchange has witnessed the very first IPO of a private company ”La Régionale’
- The investors are seemingly happy about the development. Analysts feel that it would break the gloom observed for two years on this stock exchange and expect more private firms to go for IPOs to meet their long term financial requirements.
A new era is opening up for the Central African financial market, with the merger of the Douala and Libreville stock exchanges in 2019. The exchange has witnessed the very first IPO of a private company ”La Régionale’. The investors are seemingly happy about the development. Analysts feel that it would break the gloom observed for two years on this stock exchange and expect more private firms to go for IPOs to meet their long term financial requirements.
The Central African Stock Exchange is considered to be least active in the continent. SMEs have a lot of difficulty getting financing from traditional banks since they shy away from giving long term finance. However, from the stock market, SMEs can access long term financing. Over 80% of companies in the CEMAC zone are SMEs, which are in need of capital and should turn to the Central African stock market to raise funds in order to develop their market standing, even though in the Central African financial market, the stock market culture is absent.
