Hearn, Bruce, Piesse, Jenifer and Strange, Roger (2009) Market Liquidity and Stock Size Premia in Emerging Financial Markets: The Implications for Foreign Investment. Working Paper. The Egyptian Exchange (EGX), Cairo.

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Abstract

Equity markets are increasingly seen as important sources of investment funds in many emerging economies, both in Africa and elsewhere. Furthermore, many countries perceive the development of such markets as a means to facilitate both foreign equity portfolio investment and foreign direct investment (FDI) through the acquisition of shareholdings in domestic companies, and thus supplement the low levels of funding from domestic savings. But many emerging stock markets exhibit substantial risk premia, which both push up the cost of equity for listed domestic firms and deter potential foreign investors. This paper estimates the cost of equity in four major African markets: South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Morocco. These collectively represent the largest and most developed equity markets in Africa and also act as hub markets in their respective regions. London is also included as a link between the emerging and developed financial market. The Fama and French (1993) three-factor model Capital Asset Pricing Model is augmented to take account of company size and illiquidity factors that feature in African financial markets. Results show that the premia associated with size are more prevalent than with liquidity although both are highly significant in both valuation and cost of equity estimates. The evidence suggests that the lowest cost of equity is achieved between the large international market of London and the smaller but well regulated Moroccan market, while Egypt has a higher cost of equity. The small developing market of Kenya has the second highest cost of equity, although the costs associated with the main market are less than ten percent of that faced by companies in the fledgling Alternative Investment Market. South Africa has the highest cost of equity although this reflects a proliferation of smaller firms in this market.

Item Type:	Reports and working papers (Working Paper)
Schools and Departments:	University of Sussex Business School > Business and Management
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HG Finance > HG3810 Foreign exchange. International finance. International monetary system H Social Sciences > HG Finance > HG4001 Finance management. Business finance. Corporation finance
Related URLs:	Publisher
Depositing User:	Bruce Hearn
Date Deposited:	24 Apr 2012 10:49
Last Modified:	30 Nov 2012 17:11
URI:	http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/38155

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