Africa Capital Markets Watch 2021

Our latest look at African capital markets activities during 2021.

Despite the ongoing health and economic impact of Covid-19 worldwide, our latest report shows that African markets have continued with a modest recovery through 2021.

8

IPOs in 2021, 71 IPO's between 2017 and 2021
$0.9 bn

IPO proceeds raised in 2021, $8.1 bn proceed raised between 2017 and 2021
38

FOs in 2021, 327 FOs between 2017 and 2021
$2.5 bn

FO proceeds raised in 2021, $26.1 bn proceeds raised between 2017 and 2021

Overview

Welcome to PwC’s Africa Capital Markets Watch 2021, our seventh annual publication examining both African DCM and ECM transactions.

ECM transactions included in our report comprise capital raising activities, whether initial public offerings (IPOs) or further offers (FOs), by African companies on exchanges worldwide and those made by non-African companies on African exchanges.

DCM transactions analysed include non-local currency debt funding raised by African companies and public institutions, whether high-yield or investment grade.

African equity markets

While global capital market activity continued to see an uptick with the highest IPO proceeds ever recorded in 2021, African ECM activity continued on a downward trend. The year 2021 saw the lowest ECM activity in the last five years with a decline in value and volume by 28% and 23%, respectively, compared to 2020.

Fast growing tech companies across major markets in Africa continue to source for growth capital outside the equities capital market, due to perceived onerous regulations among other reasons.

No IPO was recorded in South Africa as the largest bourse in the continent – the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) – continued to record a large number of delistings; 24 companies delisted from the JSE in 2021 against 20 that delisted in 2020.