By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Thursday assured that more Firms will list on the Nations Stock Exchange IN YEAR 2012.

Bola Adeeko, Chief of Staff/Head of Corporate Division of the NSE made this disclosure during a Media Parley with Capital Market Correspondents at the Stock Exchange House in Lagos Nigeria.

“From the NSE’s perspective, our goal is to make sure we continue to provide Companies both the ones that are currently listed with us and the ones that we are trying to attract to see the benefit of listing” he said.

According to him, from the discussions the NSE is having with Companies they are wooing to list on Nigeria’s Exchange, “we believe it’s a good proposition for them to list here” Adeeko said.

He further affirmed that it is good to attract Companies to list, but the NSE should be mindful of making sure that the needs of these Companies are catered for so that they will remain listed.

“If you notice, we are doing a lot more engagement with our listed Companies, we had the First CEOs dinner last year, there are major initiatives that we push out, we engage directly with them, for instance the Market Segmentation Exercise, before we did this, we went to everyone of them to solicit feedback” he said.

Adeeko said that some of these initiatives are not been put out to surprise the quoted Firms; but to engage them first and foremost, “that’s how you manage relationships so that they would not get upset with you” he said.

The Chief of Staff/Head of Corporate Division of the Nigeria’s Exchange said that the issue of listing is a game of debit and credit, and the NSE focuses on the net gain, “for every year, if we have 100 new Companies that list and two that delist, it is not a bad idea. We should focus on bringing in more Companies to list on the Nation’s Exchange” he said.

Early December 2011 at the Capital Market Correspondents Association of Nigeria (CAMCAN) 2011 Workshop held at Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, South West Nigeria, Adeeko had said that 400 Nigerian Companies are seeking to list on the Nigerian Bourse.

According to him, it is the strategic imperative for Companies to come and list as well as de-list from Stock Exchange.

The Nigeria’s Exchange proposed new set of listing requirements and has said it will grant a number of waivers to Mining, Oil and Gas Firms and others with large Capital Base.

The draft rule by the new Management of the NSE obtained by www.investadvocateng.com, the NSE is advocating that Mineral Companies, comprising of the Mining, Oil and Gas Firms would be exempted from fulfilling the requirements that a Company seeking listing on the Mainboard must be in operation for at least three years.

Also to be exempted are Companies with Market Capitalisation in excess of N500 billion from meeting the requirements for Public Float, which stipulates that the public shall hold a minimum of 20 percent (20%) of each class of Equity Securities of the Company.