Bank of Africa Mali, a subsidiary of Mali-based Bank of Africa Group, is making an initial public offering of 400,000 shares as a first step in listing on the regional BRVM — the West Africa Stock Exchange — according to a statement Tuesday.
This would make it the first company from Mali to be listed on the Abidjan-based exchange, Bloomberg reported.
Shares will be sold from Dec. 17 to Jan. 15 for 19,000 CFA francs ($31.95) to employees of Bank of Africa Mali and Bank of Africa. Outside investors can buy shares for 22,500 CFA francs ($37.84), according to Ivorian daily newspaper Fraternite Matin, Reuters reported.
The lender, a subsidiary of Morocco’s BMCE Bank Group, wants to raise $14.6 million. Bank of Africa Group has business operations in 14 African countries.
“In the next three months, BOA Mali will be the first company in Mali to be listed on the bourse,” said Edoh Kossi Amenounve, the stock exchange’s general manager, in a phone interview with Bloomberg from Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
A planned IPOs by another Mali company was stymied. Societe des Telecommunications du Mali SA, or Sotelma, had to postpone an IPO planned in 2012 due to a military coup in Mali.
Bank Of Africa Mali will be the 40th company to list on the regional stock exchange, which trades securities from eight West African countries.
Several West African companies said earlier this year they want to sell shares on the bourse, including Ivorian banks NSIA Banque-Cote d’Ivoire and Societe Ivoirienne de Banque SA, a unit of Morroco’s Attijariwafa Bank, as well as Eranove SA, a West African power and water producer.
