With 33.9 billion shares listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Thursday, at N35 per share, BUA Cement Plc has become the third-largest company on the local bourse.
The listing put BUA’s capitalisation at N1.2trillion, which it added to the NSE market capitalisation.
BUA Cement Plc is listing followed the just-concluded merger between Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN) and Obu Cement.
As at 2:15 pm, when official trading on BUA commenced, less than 2 percent of the issued shares was available for trading, according to figures from the NSE.
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BUA listed by way of offer for sale, which means that existing shareholders have to sell for new investors to be ablle to buy into the company. The low level of available shares for trading thus raised the question of the Free Float or the minimum percentage of shares that must be available for trading on a newly listed company on the main board of the NSE.
Currently, the NSE put the free float at 20 percent of the total issued shares, or N40 billion, whichever is higher.
The listing of BUA Cement broadens the number of stocks listed on the building materials/construction subsector of the Exchange. Dangote Cement Plc, which listed on NSE in 2011 on the same subsector, is still the largest company on the bourse, followed by MTN Nigeria, the telecom company.
The management of BUA was honoured with a closing gong ceremony by 2:30 pm in Lagos.
BUA Cement is listing its stock when the bullish run continues on the Exchange, driven by investors’ interest in value counters and positioning ahead of dividend yield amid full-year financials coming soon.
