Angola’s biggest lender Banco BAI raised 40.1 billion kwanzas ($94 million) from the sale of 10% of its shares in the oil-producing African nation’s first-ever initial public offering.
The Luanda-based bank’s shares were priced at 20,640 kwanzas, the top of the 17,200-20,640 kwanza IPO range, it said in a statement on its website. The offer was oversubscribed 1.58 times with shares coming from two of its biggest investors — state-owned oil company Sonangol and diamond producer Endiama.
BAI’s shares are set to debut on Luanda’s stock exchange on June 9, marking the start of equity trading in the continent’s second-biggest oil producer. The move may help bolster Angolan President Joao Lourenco’s image as a reformer ahead of a general election scheduled to take place on Aug. 24.
It could also help spur other planned listings that aim to attract foreign investment and diversify the economy away from oil even as surging global inflation, combined with higher interest rates, is weighing on investor demand for IPOs.-kws
