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Africa: Firms Attracting Investors in Droves
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Business Daily (Nairobi)
6 May 2008
Posted to the web 6 May 2008
James Makau
Interest in Africa's prime investments is expected to peak this year as international investors ventures into frontier markets.
The Africa investor (AI) Index Series Summit in association with the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), to be held on September 15 was launched in the presence of over 300 multi-national companies.
Among them were Coca Cola, JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, Investec, Citibank and Merrill Lynch.
The Ai Index Series tracks over US$600billion of market capitalization for Africa's top performing 100 companies.
The interest of some of the world's biggest names in investment banking is yet another indicator of the increasing interest from global investors in Africa's capital markets. These continue to deliver tidy profits even as the global economy shows signs of a downturn.
"We are very pleased by the escalating interest in the Africa Investor Index Series and anticipate an even higher turnout at the Summit on 15th September at the NYSE", said Allan Kamau, Managing Director of Africa Investor.
In Africa, prudent macroeconomic policies, low interest rate regimes and higher prices of commodities are expected to spur further economic development in the region.
Mr. Kamau added that based on current interest, the summit will mark a historic partnership between Wall Street investors' and Ai 100 constituent companies".
Sub-Saharan Africa has recorded its strongest growth for decades in recent years, but IMF has warned that a downturn in of rich economies would also affect emerging economies.
The IMF earlier this year cut its 2008 global growth projection to 4.1 per cent from 4.9 per cent last year, blaming the weak outlook in the United States and Europe.
Unlike Asian economies, sub-Saharan Africa has seen its share of the world economy steadily diminishing over recent decades, raising concerns that reform of the Fund to reflect economic realities could actually weaken Africa's say.
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Nevertheless, the minimal correlation between developed markets and frontier markets such as Kenya, Malawi, Ghana and Botswana has made Africa's markets largely immune from the global market contagion effect.
These amongst other issues will be discussed at the Summit. Organizers say it is designed to facilitate opportunities between Ai's constituent companies, Wall Street & global emerging market investors.
The Summit will facilitate one-on-one meetings to enable institutional investors meet African companies, discuss latest trends in corporate governance, high growth opportunities and the next wave of African IPOs.
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