In order to invest in its development and extension, the Port Authority of Kribi (PAK) is permanently looking for new funding. In addition to self-financing and borrowing from banks, PAK is now exploring the option of the financial market, whose primary function is precisely to contribute to the medium/longterm financing of companies. Unfortunately, the stock market remains rather marginal in Cameroon and in the CEMAC sub-region as a whole, compared to other African sub-regional groupings such as ECOWAS. In order to have a better understanding of the real opportunities offered by the sub-regional financial market, Patrice MELOM, General Manager of PAK and some of his close collaborators, including Christophe BENGONO, Financial and Accounting Manager (DFC) and Yves MELINGUI, Head of the Financial Engineering Unit (CIF) went on a working visit on Friday 23 October to the Central African Stock Exchange (BVMAC), located in Douala. Jean-Claude NGBWA, General Manager of BVMAC, the representatives of the approved brokerage firms and the Head of the African Guarantee and Economic Cooperation Fund (FAGACE) mobilised to attend to PAK delegation, all morning long. BVMAC is at the heart of the capital market common to the six CEMAC countries. It is the place where supply and demand for capital, corporate financing, individual and institutional investors’ investments meet directly. 

Why resort to the stock exchange?

According to Jean-Claude NGBWA, the first obvious advantage is that the stock exchange allows you to obtain new money fairly quickly (between four and six months), at a more attractive interest rate than those charged by commercial banks. The General Manager of BVMAC explains that «the very principle of a financial market is to organise the meeting between investors, who hold capital that they want to make profitable, and economic agents (companies, States, local authorities, etc.), who are looking for funding”.

Equities or bonds?

On the stock market, financing is obtained in two forms: Shares or Bonds. Shares refer to the amounts that the lender invests in the borrowing company, in exchange for a share of the capital of such company. Bonds, on the other hand, represent sums that are lent to the applicant, for a limited period of time, in exchange for the payment of interest. This second option assumes that PAK or any other public company can raise investment funds on the stock market, without opening its capital to the private sector. This seemed reassuring to the PAK delegation, as the port authority does not necessarily have to open its capital to the public, given its institutional model and the nature of its missions.