By Mots’elisi Sekonyela
The Central Bank of Lesotho has announced that local property company RNB Properties Ltd has become the first company to join the Maseru Securities Market (MSM) listing with ordinary shares.
Maseru Securities Market is part of many initiatives the government of Lesotho has undertaken to reform and liberate financial markets in Lesotho and channel funds into productive sectors of the economy.
The MSM was established to assist companies raise market based capital from the public market, facilitate the centralised trading of financial securities in the country and encourage the wider share ownership of previously privatized and majority of the companies in Lesotho and facilitate raising of medium to long-term capital.
However, since its launch in 2016, MSM has never listed a company’s ordinary shares on their platform. This makes RNB Properties Ltd the pioneer of this initiative which MSM describes an important and a significant milestone in the development of capital markets in Lesotho, more specifically the development of equity market and the exchange.
The listing of RNB Properties Limited ordinary shares on the main platform of MSM, means all issued shares of the same class can now start trading on MSM from December 6 2021. This offers the existing investors an opportunity to sell their acquisition and the potential ones an opportunity to buy shares now on the regulated market where the company valuation and the price of its shares will be driven by market fundamentals.
The market was established by law in 2014 through the publication of Capital Markets Regulations of 2014. These regulations and other regulatory instruments provide for the operation of a market that is fair, orderly, secure, and transparent. It provides for investor protection and the licensing of all market players. The fundamental objective of establishing this platform is to enable trading of financial securities in a secure environment that enhances confidence while on the other hand not too strict to suffocate market development.
