The Angola Debt and Securities Exchange (Bodiva), the Cape Verde Stock Exchange and the Mozambique Stock Exchange want to move forward with integrating the three exchanges into a common platform, in digital terms, revealed the president of the Cape Verde Stock Exchange, Miguel Monteiro, during a lunch with journalists in Lisbon. In practice, the three stock exchanges want to be the embryo of an African "Euronext".

In October last year, the three exchanges signed a memorandum of understanding aimed at specializing human resources and sharing experiences, as well as promoting the internationalization of markets within the scope of the cooperation's priority areas.

The Cape Verde Stock Exchange has existed for 25 years, but it only has four listed companies and a market capitalization of 980 million euros. At the moment, the listed companies are Caixa Económica de Cabo Verde (CECV); Banco Comercial do Atlântico (BCA) - the largest in Cape Verde, which is 58.2% owned by the CGD group and is in the process of being sold; Enacol and Sociedade Cabo-verdiana de Tabacos (SCT).

But by the end of the year Cabo Verde (CV) Telecom will go public, along with another company that the chairman of the stock exchange did not identify.

The Cape Verde stock exchange will now have six listed companies, and according to the institution's new strategic plan it aims to have 10 listed companies by 2025. Miguel Monteiro has promised to achieve this.

The president of the Cape Verde Stock Exchange (BVC) hopes to speed up access to the capital market for small and medium-sized companies and is counting on the ongoing review of legislation by the regulator AGMVM. Not only to make it easier to float on the stock exchange, but also to make it easier to use the market to issue debt (bonds).

Among the changes to be introduced by the country's market regulator is a reduction in the amount of equity required to float on the stock exchange.

In addition, the BVC wants "Diaspora Bonds", aimed at the Cape Verdean emigrant community.

"We can clearly say that it was a landmark year at various levels, which will allow us to have a higher target in 2023, namely small and medium-sized companies resorting to the capital market, with the forthcoming changes made by the General Audit Office of the Securities Market, in terms of access criteria, a reduction in the minimum amount required for companies to be listed on the stock exchange," Miguel Monteiro, chairman of the BVC's board of directors, recently said at an event in Praia, the stock exchange's headquarters, quoted by Lusa.

At the event held earlier this year, the Stock Exchange revealed that the amount of issues on the primary market, including treasury bills, reached 27,925 million escudos (253.3 million euros) in 2022, "a record in terms of the volume of issues on the primary market since the beginning of the activities" of the Exchange 25 years ago.

For 2023, Miguel Monteiro said that the aim is to increase the number of issues and to issue the first 'blue bond' in Cape Verde, according to Lusa.

Cabo Verde Telecom, which will go public by the end of the year, is owned by the National Institute of Social Welfare (57.9%), state-owned Airports and Air Security (20%), Sonangol Cabo Verde (5%) and the State of Cabo Verde (3.4%) among the shareholders, as well as national private individuals (13.7%). The company is to be listed on the stock exchange through public shareholdings.

Miguel Monteiro revealed this Friday that the blue bond issue that was concluded on February 28th had "a demand of 150%", with 20% of the total demand coming from the Diaspora.