CIC Insurance is set to list on the Main Investment Market Segment (MIMS) of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE). The insurance company will offer 25% of its authorised share capital. According to Reuters, the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) has approved this listing by mid-June this year.
The listing would be through introduction. An introduction is an application for listing of shares already in issue where no marketing arrangements are required. This is because the existing shares for which listing is sought are already of such an amount and so widely held that there would be an open market for the trading in these shares.
CIC, the country’s third largest insurer, had initially planned to list through an Initial Public Offer but has opted for introduction citing the current bear run of the NSE as the reason for the scrapping of initial plans. The Co-operative Bank, Kenya’s fourth-largest bank by assets, is the single largest shareholder in CIC Insurance with a 21% stake.
This follows a week after the CMA approved the listing of Longhorn Publishers through introduction as well.