Nairobi Securities Exchange price its shares at Sh9.50

The much-hyped Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) initial public offering (IPO) kicks off today with the public expected to subscribe to at least 500 shares priced at Sh9.50 per share.

The exchange which demutualised last month is offloading a total of 66 million shares to the public in a development expected to set the stage for its eventual self-listing in September 9.

Of this, a total of 63.5 million shares are up for grabs by the public while 2.5 million shares have been reserved for the employees of the NSE.

The proceeds of the offer estimated at Sh627 million will be used by the 60-year-old exchange to pay off an outstanding mortgage loan of Sh160 million secured from KCB to partly finance the purchase of its six-storied Tosica Centre located at 55 Westlands Road.

The funds will also be invested in new infrastructure to support NSE's various expansion initiatives and to provide seed capital towards the settlement guarantee fund for futures.The offer, which opens today, closes on August 12, 2014

Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury Henry Rotich said demutualisation and self-listing of the NSE form part of the government's policies to enhance governance standards and facilitate access to our markets by a wider community of investors.

"One of the key objectives of the Capital Markets Master Plan is to build on recent market reforms to address regulatory and institutional constraints in order to strengthen market infrastructure, inter-mediation, oversight and governance standards," he said during the official launch of the NSE's IPO in Nairobi yesterday.

NSE's Chairman Eddy Njoroge said the self-listing of the exchange is a proof that members of the exchange are committed to transparency and good corporate governance.