Pandemic delays rollout of NSE recovery board

Capital Markets Authority CEO Wycliffe Shamiah. FILE PHOTO | NMG

By OTIATO GUGUYU
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Summary

• The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) put on hold plans to place listed companies on a recovery board pending de-listing over balance sheet deterioration due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• The CMA said it took into recognition the difficulties that companies faced due to the pandemic, leading to delays in setting up the board that was expected to have gone live by the end of last year.

The Capital Markets Authority (CMA) put on hold plans to place listed companies on a recovery board pending de-listing over balance sheet deterioration due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The CMA said it took into recognition the difficulties that companies faced due to the pandemic, leading to delays in setting up the board that was expected to have gone live by the end of last year.

CMA chief executive Wycliffe Shamiah said the regulator has resolved all the areas that concerned companies should look into including the criteria for listing on the board and will launch it at the opportune time.

“We have agreed on the thorny areas, the name of the recovery board and what it would mean to be on the board including whether the process is fair and how the company will be perceived. But we are still thinking whether it is the right time to introduce the recovery board because of the pandemic,” said Mr Shamiah.

Initially the regulator wanted struggling firms placed under the recovery board and given three years to get out of insolvency.

Within the that period, the firms would be put under a microscope and report on a quarterly basis to the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) and CMA. They would get de-listed if they fail this prescribed regimen.

Firms that breach listing rules have to come up with a plan within six months or get ejected.

Last year, CMA reviewed the eligibility criteria to include companies that are technically insolvent, under receivership and statutory administration, those facing corporate governance and management issues and high risk companies.

Firms with working capital challenges, which are considered ‘short-term’ have been granted a helping hand under the reviewed eligibility criteria as they will not be put on a recovery board.