Bramer Banking Corp., Mauritius’s third-biggest lender by market value, expects its African business to more than double and account for a quarter of revenue as it focuses on operations in Africa.

“Although it will be a tough year, we expect regional activities to rise to 25 percent of revenue from about 10 percent through trade financing, corporate banking and syndicated loans,” Acting Chief Executive Officer Ashraf Esmael said in an interview on Oct. 5, in Port Louis, the capital.

Mauritius, an Indian Island Ocean nation of 1.3 million people, has 20 licensed lenders, according to Bank of Mauritius data. Mauritius has seen reduced demand from Europe, which accounts for 60 percent of the nation’s exports, because of the region’s sovereign debt crisis.

Bramer’s two biggest competitors are Mauritius Commercial Bank and State Bank of Mauritius Ltd., which have a combined 39 percent weighting in the 39-member SEMDEX (SEMDEX) gauge. Its loan book was 6.4 billion rupees ($210 million) by the end of June, according to a statement on the Stock Exchange of Mauritius website, while deposits were 8.5 billion rupees. After-tax income for the two months through June was 2 million rupees.

“When you are a small bank, it is easier to grow faster through offering products different from the mainstream,” Esmael said. “In the wake of the crisis, we aim at being flexible with corporate clients. It’s a long-term plan,” he said, referring to the euro-area crisis

Sun Resorts Ltd., the country’s second-biggest leisure company by market value, secured a 4.5 million-euro loan from Bramer last month, and the bank is positioning itself to loan to small small companies through a network of about 170 outlets, Esmael said.

Since its shares started trading on May 9, Bramer has fallen 15 percent, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. That compares with a 3.1 percent gain by the largest lender State Bank of Mauritius and a 1.8 percent drop by Mauritius Commercial Bank, the second-largest lender. The SEMDEX index is down 5.5 percent in the period.

Source: Bloomberg

The Stock Exchange of Mauritius (SEM) has won for the second consecutive year the “Most Innovative African Stock Exchange of the year Award” at the Institutional Investment Summit and Index Series Awards organised by Africa investor (Ai), a leading international research and communication group, in collaboration with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) Euronext.

The Award was presented to the SEM at the New York Stock Exchange on 21st September 2012. The Ai/NYSE Euronext Investment Summit is now firmly established as a calendar event and platform to profile African Capital Markets opportunities to the international investment community. The Ai Index Series Awards aims at rewarding different categories of players within the capital markets sphere, including stock exchanges, socially responsible companies, regulators, listed companies, investment banks, stockbroking companies, research teams and fund managers. The Award in the “Most Innovative African Stock Exchange” category was given on the basis of a number of criteria, including, amongst others, initiatives implemented by the Exchange to embrace new areas of development, programmes in place to enhance the services it provides to its key stakeholders and compliance of the Exchange’s regulatory and operational set-up with international standards. Commenting on the Award received by the SEM, Mr. Gaetan Lan Hun Kuen, Chairman of the SEM said: “This Award for the second consecutive year comes as a recognition of the numerous initiatives taken recently by the SEM, with the active support of the Ministry of Finance, the FSC, the BOI and other private sector operators to scale up its activities and move up the value-chain of products and services it offers. In spite of the very difficult market environment, the SEM has been actively pursuing an internationalisation strategy to position itself as an attractive listing, trading and capital-raising platform for Global funds, Global business companies, specialist-debt products, and African based ventures. We would also like to congratulate the FSC for winning the “Most Innovative Capital Market Regulator of The Year Award.” The other nominees in the “Most Innovative African Stock Exchange” category were Johannesburg Stock Exchange, The Egyptian Exchange, Casablanca Stock Exchange, Nigeria Stock Exchange, Nairobi Stock Exchange, Ghana Stock Exchange , Botswana Stock Exchange and Uganda Stock Exchange.

Source: SEM