(Business in Cameroon) - The number of La Régionale Bank’s shares listed on the Central African Stock Exchange (Bvmac) increased from 61,630 to 72,089 as of May 29. This 17% increase is the result of the listing of 10,459 new shares following a free distribution operation held last April.

Louis Banga Ntolo, the CEO of Bvmac, said: “The regional stock market will adjust the free float accordingly during the listing session on May 29, 2023, to align it with the new volume of shares”. The integration of these new shares de facto increases the market capitalization of the Cameroonian bank. Indeed, based on a La Régionale share price of CFA42,500 on May 29, 2023, the floating market capitalization of this bank would increase by 14.5% to CFA3,063 billion. Overall capitalization would increase by 1.3% to CFA37,233 billion.

The new shares represent the equivalent of the CFA1.469 billion share premium generated by the bank at the end of the 2021 public share offering that preceded La Régionale's IPO. According to the brokerage firm Élite Capital, which distributed the shares, 6 shares gave rise to the distribution of one new share, according to a distribution key previously validated by the bank.