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South Africa’s newest bourse, Cape Town Stock Exchange, opened last month aiming to attract companies in Kenya, Nigeria, Ghana and others that are looking to raise capital. The bourse said its listing costs are a third less than charges by its competitor, Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

According to Bloomberg, TWK Agri Pty. was the first company to trade on the Cape Town Stock Exchange, which was previously called 4 Africa Exchange Pty. before an overhaul that resulted in it becoming a full-fledged bourse, according to Chief Executive Officer Eugene Booysen.

According to Booysen, the newcomer would like to become the Nasdaq of Africa. While a wave of initial public offerings has swept across the world, South African firms – especially
smaller companies – have been de-listing from the main exchange in recent years due to costs and onerous compliance issues. Cape Town’s bourse and other rivals such as A2X and ZarX have been using technology to cut listing charges in a bid to lure business.

“We reduce the cost, risk, time and complexity for companies looking to list,” said Booysen. “This, and owning our technology, enables us to target small and medium firms” valued at up to 2 billion rand ($132 million), he said.

Opening a stock exchange in South Africa’s so-called mother city of Cape Town has the advantage of being located where most of the nation’s fund and asset managers are based. The bourse aims to share its technology and revenue with other African exchanges, said Booysen.