Kenya’s Nation Media Group (NMG) cross-listed its shares on the Uganda Stock Exchange on Tuesday, two weeks before it was due to cross-list on Rwanda’s bourse in a move to expand its regional footprint.

Chief Executive Linus Gitahi said East Africa’s largest media house aimed to list on all of the East African Community’s bourses. He said the regional bloc needed to speed up reforms to simplify trading across the region.

"The reforms...are connected to ongoing efforts by the stock markets in East Africa to harmonise their trading platforms,” Gitahi told Reuters after the launch.

One sticking point in the reform process has been the need for regulatory change in Tanzania on movement of capital in and out of the country as the region seeks to deepen levels of economic integration.

NMG launched just over 157 million shares on the Ugandan bourse at an opening price of 4,620 Uganda shillings.
The company expects a double-digit profit growth in 2010, lifted by a surge in print and broadcast revenue and improving economic conditions.

On Monday, Rwanda’s Capital Markets Advisory Council (CMAC) said NMG would cross-list on the central African nation’s fledgling over-the-counter market on November 2.

Agencies