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AFRICAN ALLIANCE SOLO BIDDER FOR E15.5M CONTRACT

12/05/2023 08:59:00 Mhlengi Magongo

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MBABANE – African Alliance Eswatini Limited was the only company to show interest in the Matsapha Town Council development contract.

The council requested companies to submit proposals for the development of the Matsapha mixed-use development through a public private partnership (PPP) on Portion 41 of Farm 300, Matsapha. This was revealed by the Eswatini Public Procurement Regulatory Agency (ESPPRA) on their website. The intention to award the company was published last Friday, and they are expected to begin executing it after 10 working days, should it not be contested. The proposed contract price was E15 500 000 and their total evaluated score was 85 per cent.

Leading

African Alliance is one of the leading investment brokers in the country entrusted by the Eswatini Stock Exchange (ESE). The dematerialisation process initiated by ESE has not been completed, which has led to some investors failing to sell their shares. Meanwhile, electronic trading commenced late last year for ESE and only securities that have been transferred and registered at the Central Bank of Eswatini (CBE) Central Securities Depository (CSD), will be traded in the Automated Trading System (ATS). This was mentioned by ESE’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Ncamiso Ntshalintshali.

Ntshalintshali said after the implementation of the systems, all new Initial Public Offerings (IPOs) and subsequent trading would be made in the CSD and the ATS, respectively. He said the CSD was commencing the dematerialisation process of the existing paper certificates and, therefore, requires that shareholders open investor accounts and dematerialise their securities in preparation for the trading of electronic-based securities following implementation of the systems.

“Current shareholders are consequently required to contact a registered stockbroker, custodian bank or transfer secretary to dematerialise their stockholdings. “Stockholders will be required to complete a stockholding declaration and consent to dematerialise form upon presentation of the physical certificates; a signed and stamped copy of the form will be provided to the holder,” he added.

Process

The CEO also mentioned that the dematerialisation process would run from August 1, 2022, until February 29, 2024, as enshrined in section 116 of the Securities Act, 2010. He said this follows the completion of all technical and operational processes, approval of the ESE Rules by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority (FSRA) and the publication of Dematerialisation Notice 269 of 2022. When asked what an ATS was, Ntshalintshali explained that it was an electronic platform offered by ESE for the purchase and sale of securities (shares, bonds, debentures and so on).

He said the ATS has an order matching engine and replaces the manual trading of shares that they have all been used to in Eswatini. “The ATS electronically matches and executes ‘buy’ and ‘sell’ orders that stockbrokers would have brought into the system, for both buying and selling clients to get the best bargains available on the market for their shares. “It is different from manual trading, in that there is no human intervention in the processes of matching orders,” he added.

The CEO also mentioned that ATS ensured transparency in share dealings, speed of execution and convenience as it eliminates human interference and traders can do business from anywhere without necessarily having to attend ‘call-over’ sessions at the ESE. He added that ESE and FSRA can also monitor the trading activities of stockbrokers for the benefit of the investing public. Ntshalintshali alluded that ESE wants to tap into opportunities to be availed by the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Interconnectivity Hub Project and the African Exchanges Linkage Project, both funded by the African Development Bank (AfDB), which bode well for regional and continental integration and financial inclusion.