Six Kenyan Firms Listed on the NSE in London for the 8th Global Investment Summit

Six firms listed on the NSE are attending the EFG Hermes 9th annual London Conference, the Middle East North Africa and frontier emerging markets (“FEM”) investor event held in the UK.

The event, which started on 10th is expected to run until Tuesday, September 11 and has attracted 327 institutional investors and 151 listed companies from diverse sectors and markets across the world.  

The NSE listed companies include Equity Bank, KCB Group, Centum, Safaricom, Kenol Kobil, and WPP Scan Group. The firm’s top executives are to meet global investors to share insights and discuss investment opportunities.

This event is significant for the Kenyan firms in view of the historically high foreign investor flows on the NSE.

A total of 11 other companies from Uganda, Botswana, Mauritius, and Nigeria are also in attendance underlining African companies’ growing profile among global investors. Over the past ten years, investor interest in fast-growing frontier and emerging markets (FEM), including those in Africa, has increased.

According to EFG Hermes Holding Group CEO Karim Awad, the conference offers a rare forum for active fund managers to gain on-the-ground insights and intelligence from C-suite executives about how increased transparency, tougher regulations and how new technologies are reshaping FEM investments in 2018.

“EFG Hermes takes pride in its role to bridge the gap between global capital and opportunities in high-growth markets,” he said.

The 2018 8th Annual EFG Hermes London Conference will play host to the 17 leading African companies, around eight thousand meetings between 327 institutional investors and global fund managers representing 177 institutions managing an aggregate AUM of 12 trillion US dollars, and executives from 151 listed companies in total.

Also featured includes participating companies with an aggregate market cap of 856.15 billion US dollars from 25 jurisdictions, representing 11 sectors.

“Frontier emerging markets are witnessing economic modernization and the opening-up of their markets, with major policy reforms at the forefront of their respective governments’ initiatives to transition from commodity-dependent to more diversified economies,” said Mohamed Ebeid, Co-CEO of the Investment Bank at EFG Hermes.

According to Ebeid, whereas FEM markets have no shortfall in challenges ahead for the future, they also present a wealth of prospects for the investment community; and the EFG Hermes London Conference is an exclusive opportunity for them to deepen their connections with and knowledge of these markets through first-hand encounters with C-suite executives representing multiple industries and sectors across FEM.

The 2018 conference is set to be the largest in the event’s history, with participating companies, which have grown from 130 last year, spanning the world over and covering sectors such as consumer discretionary, consumer staples, energy, financials, healthcare, industrials, materials, real estate and hospitality, telecommunication services and utilities.