Representatives of the Minority Shareholders Association of Listed Companies (Misalico) have indicated that they are writing some 56 prospective companies to list on the Malawi Stock Exchange (MSE) as per regulations in their respective sectors.
This, they say, will give Malawians an opportunity to invest in such companies and enhance the wealth creation agenda embedded in the Malawi 2063.
In an interview, Misalico General Secretary Frank Harawa said it is unfortunate for Malawi that there are only 16 companies listed on the MSE since 1996.
“We have written several companies. We first of all targeted the telecommunication companies because the Communications Act is very clear that these companies needed to give 20 or 25 percent of their shares to Malawians. But then we’ve got several companies that also are supposed to list. So, we’ve written them and told them, ‘you are a potential company and you put everything in place and you can list’.
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“We have also written Salima Sugar, we have also written Ecobank in Togo and we’re preparing a letter that is going to the Minister of Mining because in most of the countries, many companies list on their stock exchanges. We would like to see mining companies listing on the MSE. We have got more than 56 companies that we are targeting,” Harawa said.
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In a separate interview, MSE Chief Executive Officer John Kamanga said only the Communications Act compels players in the sector to have part of the company shares taken up by local Malawians.
However, he could not explain why some of the players in the sector have not been taken to task on the matter.
“In Malawi it’s only the Communications Acts which requires foreign companies in the sector to offer 20 percent to the general public.
However, we are proposing and lobbying the government that those companies that are seeking tax waivers should be subjected to offering a proportion of their shareholding to the general public,” Kamanga said.
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Section 35 of the Communications Act on local ownership requirement stipulates that: “An electronic communications licensee shall maintain a local shareholding of at least 20 percent”.
