The Namibia Economist

NSX announces new board

The Namibian Stock Exchange last week announced the names of its new board elected earlier in May. From the left to are Habo Gerdes (Vice Chair), Bruce Hansen (Board member), Lionel Matthews (Chairman), Stefan de Bruyn (Board member) and Tiaan Bazuin (CEO). Matthews was elected Chairman at the first Board meeting on 14 May. Habo Gerdes was re-elected as Vice Chair. The NSX Board welcomed Stefan de Bruyn and Bruce Hansen as new members, who filled the rotational vacancies left by Sebby Kankondi and Vekuii Rukoro.

Bank Windhoek goes public

Bank Windhoek Holdings Limited (BWH) announced on 15 May 2013 that the company will list all its issued ordinary shares on the Namibian Stock Exchange (NSX) on 20 June 2013. This is the largest primary listing since the establishment of the NSX.
“The BWH prospectus for the public offer was released on 16 May 2013 at 09:00 and has created wide public interest on the first day of the public offer. Today is a milestone in the history of the company and of Capricorn Investment Holdings and we are pleased that the public offer is creating such excitement amongst our clients and the general public. We take great pleasure to invite our clients, institutional investors and the general public to share in prosperity by subscribing for shares in this uniquely Namibian group of companies with their roots grounded firmly in a diverse portfolio of business interests”, said Christo de Vries, Managing Director of Bank Windhoek Holdings Limited.

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Women on the move

Two professional women are making their mark at management level in the two leading private sector companies.
FNB Namibia announced the promotion of Florentia Amuenje to Head of Human Resources while Broll Namibia announced the appointment of Karen Keys as Finance Manager.
Florentia Amuenje holds a BA (hons) degree in Industrial Psychology; a Master of Arts research Psychology from Rhodes University and a MBA from the University of Stellenbosch Business School. She is also a Board member of the Namibia Statistics Agency and the Namibia Training Authority.
She joined FNB in 2007, looking back at a challenging and exciting career at the bank.
Karen Keys started her career at Namibia Breweries Limited (NBL) in April 1996. She recalls: “I initially started my career at NBL as Secretary to the Finance Director in April 1996.  Then I furthered my studies through distance learning and was given various growth opportunities throughout my 17 year tenure at NBL up to the Financial Controlling position.  I moved over to Broll Namibia as Finance Manager on 1 May 2013 and have never looked back.”

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Fitch Revises NamPort’s Outlook to Positive

Fitch Ratings has revised the outlook on Namibian Ports Authority’s National Long-Term rating to positive from stable. The agency has affirmed NamPort’s National Long-term rating at ‘A-(zaf)’ and National Short-Term rating at ‘F2(zaf)’.
The revision of the outlook to positive reflects the expected strengthening of the links between NamPort and its sole shareholder, the Namibian sovereign (‘BBB-’/’BBB’/’AA-(zaf)’/Stable), given that the state plans to provide guarantees for the debt-funded portion of the capacity expansion project and maintain other forms of financial support.
NamPort’s rating continues to benefit from strong parental support as Fitch considers the legal, operational and strategic ties between the company and its sole shareholder to be strong. The company is rated on a top-down basis from its shareholder, and Fitch assesses that NamPort’s
standalone rating would be significantly below the support-driven rating level. NamPort remains a strategic asset to the Namibian economy, operating the country’s two ports at Walvis Bay and Luderitz. Fitch believes NamPort is likely to play a critical role in infrastructure development given its planned port expansion project of N$3 billion in the next three years.

Read more: Fitch Revises NamPort’s Outlook to Positive