The 2018 edition of the BusinessDay Annual Capital Market and Investors Forum holds tomorrow at the prestigious Intercontinental Hotel, Lagos.
The capital market and investors forum is another important gathering of personalities in the nation’s capital market who will be discussing how to catalyse listings in the nation’s thriving market.
The event is an annual gathering of government officials, apex and self-regulatory organisations, all capital market operators, investment bankers, policy makers, chief executive officers (CEOs), economists, researchers, analysts, academics, private equity firms, technology startups and firms in need of long term capital.
Currently, the strategic partners for this capital market and investors forum are the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange (FMDQ), NASD Plc, Zenith Capital, Nestle Nigeria Plc, among others. At the Forum, investment and capital market industry operators will also proffer insights regarding the theme of the conference.
Oscar Onyema, chief executive officer, Nigerian Stock Exchange will be the keynote speaker at the conference.
Other speakers include: Patience Oniha, Director General, Debt Management Office (DMO); Bola Onadele. Koko, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange; Bola Ajomale, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, NASD OTC Plc and Haruna Jalo-Waziri, Managing Director/Chief Executive Officer, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc.
Aside the apex and Self-Regulatory Organisations (SROs), the conference also brings together capital market operators from various trade groups with the nation’s capital market, fund managers, and Pension Fund Administrators (PFAs). The conference is themed “Catalyzing listings in a thriving market”.
Oil is the big elephant in Nigeria’s capital market as the prices at circa $70 had their highest averages since 2014. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) forecasts that Nigeria’s economy will grow by 1.9percent in 2018, driven by a stronger global economy; higher global oil prices and output; FX market stability; and fiscal stimulus.
Amid all these expected positives, the dearth of new listings in equities, debts, derivatives, and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) as well as other alternative asset classes is increasingly attracting questions from many schools of thought.
Nigeria joined the league of Argentina, Turkey, and Hong Kong stock markets which outperformed global equities in terms of returns in 2017. Truly, 2017 was a great year for equity investors globally. In Nigeria, over N4.5trillion was gained by stock investors last year.
While most major markets posted sizable gains last year, the rising tide did not lift all boats around new listings. The market is expecting MTN Nigeria listing this second half (H2) which will be another big one.
Onyema will leverage this conference to tell stakeholders further prospects or possible risks to attracting new listings.
Corporate institutions have continued to successfully tap the Nigerian debt capital markets (DCM) to access stable long-term finance to fund key activities that ultimately translate to the development of the economy at large.
Onadele. Koko is expected to leverage the forum to further tell stakeholders how FMDQ OTC Exchange has positioned to bring revolutionary changes in the Nigerian DCM.
Investors growing interest in unlisted securities market has driven NASD Plc to record growth in value and volume of securities traded.
Ajomale will key into this conference to tell the world his efforts around enhancing transparency on the inherent value in such companies, improve levels of investor confidence, and other new initiatives.
The forum offers Jalo-Waziri opportunity to speak more to stakeholders on CSCS’s recently unveiled three-year strategy which is effective from 2018 to 2020.
Other areas of focus for the panelists include: how to attract new listings, the role of alternative asset classes, effective strategies for wealth creation after recession, factors changing the global investment industry and implications for Nigerian markets, increasing retail participation in the Nigerian capital market, and how to educate investors to exploit the gains of diversified asset classes.
In the evening, BusinessDay will at same venue (Intercontinental Hotel Lagos), honour Top 25 CEOs who delivered the most value to stakeholders and contributed to the stellar performance recorded by the Nigerian capital market in 2017.
Last year, listed stocks gained N4.36 trillion in market capitalisation, a development that made the Nigerian capital market one of the best in the world.
Interestingly, the 25 CEOs that will be celebrated accounted for over 60 percent of the success recorded on the NSE. That means they added some N2.6 trillion to market value in 2017.
The award in in recognition that leading a company and creating value depends on many skills that are hard to measure—strategic vision, authenticity, long-term planning.
Investors are not the only stakeholders that need tending to; rather the best-run companies connect effectively with customers, employees, and the communities where they operate.
All these stop at the feet of CEOs, who must be everything their company’s stakeholders want of them.
Iheanyi Nwachukwu
