4 years since its launch alternative stock exchange A2X’s combined market cap grows to about R5 trillion

ALTERNATIVE stock exchange A2X Markets said yesterday that, four years since its launch, A2X’s combined market cap has grown to about R5 trillion.

“Over the past year, A2X’s combined market cap grew from R2.2 trillion to about R5 trillion with Famous Brands, Capital Appreciation, Prosus, Sun International, Sygnia’s full range of 13 exchange traded funds, EOH, Investec Limited and Investec plc all listing on A2X,” it said.

The company currently has 56 securities listed on its exchange; 12 are top 40 constituents, and trade activity has grown rapidly as brokers increasingly connect to ensure they are able to achieve the best execution for their clients.

It also said it had created available savings of R400 million in the past 12 months. These savings are made up of both direct savings, in the form of lower exchange fees, and indirect savings in the form of narrower bid/offer spreads.

The company said that if all listed companies in South Africa had a secondary listing on A2X, annual savings upward of R1.4 billion were possible.

A2X chief executive Kevin Brady said: “This time last year, the direct and indirect annual savings available to the market were about R200m. As more and more companies and exchange traded products have listed on A2X in the past year, this number has doubled.”

A2X competes with the JSE and a number of other alternative stock exchanges in South Africa.

The JSE is among the 20 largest exchanges in the world in terms of market capitalisation. In 2020 the JSE reported 20 delistings down from 24 in 2019 and said they were largely the result of corporate actions and schemes of arrangement in mostly small to mid-sized, illiquid counters.