Second stock exchange bid fails

A second bid to compel the Namibia Financial Institutions Supervisory Authority (Namifisa) through the High Court to grant a licence for the establishment of a second stock exchange was dismissed yesterday.
The first application by NamFin-X was dismissed on the basis of an interlocutory objection which was raised by the respondents.
Acting Judge Collins Parker dismissed an application for leave to appeal against the previous court decision, saying that the previous interlocutory ruling did not on dispose on the merits of the case.
He indicated that the applicants could still challenge the decision not to grant the licence through the review proceedings.
Meanwhile, NamFin-X has already petitioned the Supreme Court to set aside the decision of the High Court so that its application can be heard on merit.
Namfisa in 2014 delayed the approval of a licence for the establishment of a second stock exchange.
They demanded more technical information and a detailed analysis from NamFin-X, as the initial application allegedly lacked adequate information on its shareholding structure and proposed capitalisation.
NamFin-X is controlled by Namibian and foreign investors whose identity could not be disclosed before the regulator’s approval.
Former cabinet minister Helmut Angula is one of the co-founders of NamFin-X.
He was quoted in earlier news articles as having justified the creation of a second stock exchange in the country since most of Namibia’s savings are outside the country.
“Our thrust is to ensure that at least a sizeable chunk of capital stays within the country and is used to develop the domestic market,” he was quoted as saying by the Namibia Economist in October 2014.
The Namibian Stock Exchange, which has a partnership with the Johannesburg bourse in South Africa, has 34 listed companies and had a market capitalisation of N$18.7 billion as of December 2013, according to the nation’s markets regulator.
Limitations to Namibia’s banking industry and a lack of local investment opportunities contributed to capital outflows in 2012 of N$4.5 billion to neighbouring South Africa, the central bank said last October.
The governor of the Bank of Namibia, Ipumbu Shiimi, commented that over the years Namibia had generated large private savings which continued to be largely invested abroad, particularly in South Africa.
FRED GOEIEMAN