PRESS RELEASE
African capital market leaders shine at Africa Investor Index Awards hosted by the New York Stock Exchange
Download Winners List
15 September, 2008, New York . The 2008 winners of the Africa investor (Ai) Index Awards were announced last night to the global investment community at the New York Stock Exchange.
In his opening statement at the ceremony, Dr Bamanga Tukur, Chairman, Africa investor Group said:
“Sub-Saharan Africa is gaining increasing interest as an investment opportunity among international investors seeking to expand into equity markets with the potential for similar or greater returns than in further developed emerging markets. Recent events here in the US and in other developed markets have encouraged investors to look closely at untapped opportunities in Africa, as Africa's markets tend be uncorrelated to global markets and offer better returns”. The 2008 Index Series Awards heralds the emergence of truly competitive African capital markets, providing the global investment community with profitable, robust, and diverse investment opportunities.
The Ai Index Series Awards are based on the Ai100 index and the Ai40 Index, which has grown by 74.27% since its inception in December 2005. The index Series Awards are the only international, pan-African awards that recognise and reward institutional investors, stock exchanges, corporate governance, stockbrokers and capital market regulators across the continent.
The African development bank walked away with the top prize as Dr. Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank Group won the Africa Investor Capital Markets Personality of the Year Award. The most innovative African stock exchange winner was announced as the Egyptian Exchange, whilst the Bond Exchange of South Africa Ltd took gold, winning the most innovative capital markets regulator award. International, Citi & Renaissance Capital led the way winning Best Africa investment bank and best Africa research team respectively.
Commenting on the award process Professor Wiseman. Nkhulu, Chairman of the judging panel said:
“As chair of the judging panel I have been extremely impressed with the efforts of all the finalists in raising the standards of the industry and their commitment to corporate governance and investor protection”.
The ceremony in New York was attended by over 100 senior executives from across Africa and the rest of the world. Dignitaries present included the CEO's of the Nigerian, Ghanaian, Mauritian and Egyptian Stock Exchanges, New York State Executive Chamber representatives; and leading financial institutions such as JP Morgan, BHP Billiton, Goldman Sachs, Oceanic Bank, and the Africa Development Bank.
The 2007 Africa investor Awards were supported by Oceanic Bank, British Airways, The African Securities Exchanges Association, and Thompson Reuters, and SABC. For full list of winners see below or visit www.africa-investor.com for further details.
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About the Africa Investor Index Series
The Africa Investor (Ai) is Africa's foremost provider of indices. It supplies investors with the independent benchmarks they need to feel more confident about their investment and strategic decisions. Ai produces weekly, value-traded adjusted, market capitalization-weighted indices. It's Ai100 and Ai 40 Investors indexes capture the top 40 and 100 of the largest and most liquid publicly traded stocks across Africa ranking them by market capitalization and by liquidity as measured by the average daily value traded in US Dollars. For more information visit: http:// www.africa-investor.com/indexseries.asp
The winners 1 st Runners up, and 2 nd Runners up of the Ai Index Series Awards 2008
Most Innovative African Stock Exchange
The Egyptian Exchange (winner)
JSE Ltd
Nairobi Stock Exchange
Best Africa Investment Bank
Citigroup (winner)
Standard Bank/Stanbic Bank
JP Morgan
Best Africa Research Team
Renaissance Capital (winner)
Deutsche Securities
Afrinvest
Most Innovative Capital Markets Regulator
Bond Exchange of South Africa Ltd (winner)
Capital Market Authority Uganda
Capital Market Authority Egypt
Best Performing Broker in Africa
BJM (winner)
Hermes Securities
Imara SP Reid
Best Africa Fund Manager
Emerging Market Management for Emerging Markets Management L.L.C (winner)
Investec Asset Management for Investec Africa Fund
Imara Asset Management for Imara African Opportunities
Best African IPO
Safaricom (Morgan Stanley/Dyer & Blair) (winner)
CGI
Celtel/Zain Zambia
Best Performing Ai 100 Company
Equity Bank (winner)
Intercontinental Bank
BHP Billiton
Best Performing Ai 40 Company
Sasol (winner)
East African Breweries Ltd
State Bank of Mauritius
Ai Capital Markets Personality of the Year
Dr. Donald Kaberuka, President, African Development Bank Group (winner)
