Created in 2015, Bodiva manages a market where various instruments are traded, mainly Treasury Bonds, as the equity market was only opened last year, with two banking companies (BAI - Banco Angolano de Investimento and Caixa Angola).
Walter Pacheco revealed that there are several companies in the process of being prepared for listing on the stock exchange, two of which are more advanced (in the construction and banking areas) and could be listed during the course of this year.
"We are monitoring seven companies that are at different stages of preparation, two of them at a more advanced stage", he advanced, without much detail. However, he revealed that they are private, one in the construction area and another in the banking sector, and underlined that the stock market is more attractive for large companies.
He also explained that in order to enter the stock market, companies have to comply with requirements in terms of information to be provided to investors, from the regulatory point of view (prospectus) and the operation itself (transaction preparation and marketing).
Regarding the listing of BAI and Caixa Angola, he considered that it exceeded expectations in the primary market, having lost some dynamism in the secondary market.
"[In the primary market] we had a surplus of demand and a deficit of supply. At BAI it was around 160 percent and at Caixa Angola around 200 percent, this means that many investors were left out and this created some pressure on the price", he stressed.
"When there is a shortage, the price increases and the volume of transactions in the secondary market decreases significantly, we have this difficulty in the secondary market at that time," he added.
For Walter Pacheco, Bodiva needs to offer more products: "We need to give people alternatives, more companies to be listed and other ways for companies to finance themselves. Not only shares and Treasury Bonds, but also corporate bonds that replace recourse to bank credit".
However, for the Bodiva shareholder index to be launched, there is still some way to go.
"If we did a 'Luanda Stock index' now, it would only be representative of the banking sector, when an index is created it is intended to be representative of the country", declared the chief executive of Bodiva.
"We are waiting for us to have at least five companies from at least three different sectors", which will be "much closer to representing the country", which he believes will happen in two to three years. Construction, mining and oil sector are some of the examples he gave.
Walter Pacheco considered that it is necessary to attract more investors, which will happen as more companies enter.
"We had 25,000 investment accounts open in 2021. With the BAI process, we reached around 63,000 accounts at the end of 2022, because we had more products on offer. We have to increase the offer of products, increase the offer, increase the demand and the number of investors", he stressed.
A process that also includes internal and external promotion, through partnerships with other exchanges.
Compared to other African exchanges, Bodiva is still small, given the size of the Angolan economy, recognized Walter Pacheco.
"The Angolan economy is one of the four or five largest in sub-Saharan Africa, but we are a little behind if we compare it with Kenya, Nigeria or South Africa, this one is already on another level", said Pacheco, explaining that Angola took off much later.
"But we are feeling genuine interest from companies to finance themselves on the stock exchange and that will, in a way, create a very good growth dynamic. And Angola is starting to gain an increasingly better reputation, we have a good window of opportunity to make Bodiva take a leap of opportunity", highlighted the official.
In 2022, Bodiva reached a turnover of 1.54 billion kwanzas, which represents 3.4 billion dollars, of which 1.5 percent related to shares.
"It's a relatively small amount, but we think it's going to grow a lot this year," he concluded.
At the Bodiva Forum, which takes place this Wednesday in Luanda, under the theme "O Mercado em Crescimento", will be present the presidents of the board of directors of the Stock Exchange of Cape Verde and Mozambique, and the chief executive for Africa IIBank, who will discuss "Stock Market Growth in the SADC Region", and "The Stock Market and Sustainable Financing".
