• Six companies listed in the “Premier Market” met with world-renowned investment institutions at the exchange’s 12th Corporate Day in London
• This event is part of Boursa Kuwait’s broader strategy to promote the Kuwaiti capital market globally.
• Corporate investors accounted for 62% of the market in Q1 2024, highlighting growing international interest.
Boursa Kuwait, the stock exchange of Kuwait, successfully concluded its 12th Corporate Day in London, held in collaboration with Jefferies Financial Group, a leading global investment banking and capital markets firm. The event brought together six listed companies with prominent global institutions, including investment banks, asset managers, sovereign wealth funds, and pension funds.
This provided an opportunity for international corporate investors to gain in-depth insights into a number of companies listed on the Premier Market, which included Boursa Kuwait itself, Gulf Bank, National Bank of Kuwait, Mabani Company, Jazeera Airways, and HumanSoft.
Highlighting investment opportunities
Nora Al-Abdulkarim, Head of Markets Sector at Boursa Kuwait, stated: “Boursa Kuwait is committed to showcasing the investment opportunities in the Kuwaiti capital market and its listed companies, which attract the attention of investors around the world, through Corporate Days held in cooperation with global investment banks in major financial capitals.”
She added: “Access to global capital is essential for the sustainable growth of the market, and we will continue to explore opportunities that will enhance the liquidity and transparency of the market and attract more foreign and corporate investments.”
Key results
In its meetings with potential investors, Boursa Kuwait highlighted its key results for the first quarter of 2024, shedding light on the performance of the Kuwaiti capital market during the three months ended March 31, 2024. The market witnessed a 68.65% increase in trading volume from 8.52 billion shares to 14.36 billion shares.
Trading value also increased by 34.21% from KD 2.64 billion to KD 3.54 billion, while the daily trading average increased by the same percentage from KD 43.26 million in 2023 to KD 58.06 million in 2024.
Corporate investors accounted for 62% of the market in the first quarter of this year, while international investors accounted for 15% of the market for the same period, reflecting the continuous efforts of Boursa Kuwait and the market system to develop the Kuwaiti capital market and promote it to investors around the world.
A pioneering company
Commenting on Boursa Kuwait’s participation in the Corporate Day, Naim Azaduddin, the company’s Chief Financial Officer, said: “Corporate days are an integral part of Boursa Kuwait’s strategy, a self-listed company on the Premier Market since 2020. They provide us with an opportunity to highlight our performance, financial results, and operational performance, and to present our governance, social responsibility, and environmental reports. Our participation also represents an opportunity to showcase our journey as a leading company in the region to the international investment community, as we are a success story for privatization projects in the State of Kuwait and one of the most successful stories of stock exchange privatization in the Middle East.”
He continued: “Boursa Kuwait’s participation comes within the framework of applying the best practices in investor relations, due to its important role in developing business strategies and enabling investors to have direct access to information that affects investment decisions by researching all financial and non-financial information, in order to reach clear visions about future opportunities and prospects. Finally, I would like to thank Jefferies Financial Group for giving us this opportunity to tell our story, and I look forward to more cooperation in the future.”
London promotional tour
This Corporate Day in London represents the third collaboration between Boursa Kuwait and Jefferies Financial Group, and the first in 2024. In 2023, the two institutions partnered twice, once on a London roadshow with the Kuwait Clearing Company that contributed to the implementation of several development projects to ease investor access. The other time was on a Corporate Day held in Dubai that saw the participation of 13 companies listed on the Kuwaiti capital market.
Attracting investors
Since its inception, Boursa Kuwait has worked to create a reliable stock exchange built on credibility and transparency, creating a flexible capital market with liquidity, an advanced trading platform, and developing a comprehensive set of reforms and improvements that have made it rise to the highest regional and international levels.
The company has also played a pivotal role in developing and preparing the capital market to attract local and foreign investors through a wide range of new products and services and advanced infrastructure, in addition to market reform initiatives, as part of plans aimed at developing the Kuwaiti capital market in several stages.
Successful privatization
The company was successfully privatized in 2019 to become the first government entity in the country to successfully undergo this process, which led to achieving higher levels of efficiency. The company was self listed on the market in September 2020 and has taken significant steps to maintain the distinction of its activities and face market uncertainties and challenges.
New initiatives
Over the past years, the company has implemented several market reforms and launched new initiatives as part of its comprehensive multi-stage plans to develop the market. Boursa Kuwait has also worked to promote the Kuwaiti capital market in major global investment capitals and to connect with leading global banks, investment firms, sovereign wealth funds, and others.
This is done to highlight the unique investment opportunities offered by the market, in addition to showcasing a number of listed companies, through a series of roadshows and Corporate Days. These events help these companies connect with the world’s leading corporate investors to shed light on their financial strength, strategies, and directions, in an effort to help investors gain a deep understanding of the advantages and investment opportunities in the Kuwaiti market.
