On July 31, 2025, BGFI Holding Corporation (BHC), the parent company of the BGFIBank group, will open its share capital to the public with an IPO on the Central African Stock Exchange (BVMAC). The offering will be priced at 80,000 FCFA (approx. $130) per share, covering 1,573,536 shares, or 10% of the company’s total equity. Post-listing, BHC’s share capital will total over 15.7 million shares.
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This marks one of the highest IPO prices in the region’s history, second only to Bange Bank’s listing in 2022 at 206,220 FCFA per share. While the price reflects the institutional strength of BHC, it also raises concerns about accessibility for retail investors in a market where stock investing remains relatively uncommon.
To address these concerns, BVMAC is working on implementing stock splits — a mechanism that lowers the per-share price by increasing the number of outstanding shares. “A company with 1,000 shares at 2,500 FCFA could split them fivefold to 5,000 shares at 500 FCFA,” explained BVMAC CEO Louis Banga Ntolo.
The goal is to democratize access to the stock market and grow the number of investor accounts from around 10,000 today to several hundred thousand. “The head of the Bayam Sellam women’s association in Cameroon told us that if stock splits were introduced, her 3 million members could start investing in the market,” Ntolo added.
