How are securities registered for a public offering in Ethiopia?

Before a company can offer securities to the public in Ethiopia, those securities must be registered with ECMA. This is governed by the Directive on Public Offering and Trading of Securities (No. 1030/2024), which prohibits offering unregistered securities to the public and sets out who is eligible to issue, what a registration statement must contain, and the exemptions that apply.

A public offer normally requires a prospectus — a disclosure document, whose form and content the Directive specifies, giving investors the facts they need — usually supported by a transaction advisor and, where relevant, underwriting. Once ECMA approves the registration statement it issues a certificate of registration, and the securities are registered with the Central Securities Depository.

When a company completes registration, ECMA publishes a public notice: the many “Notice of Registration of Securities” notices in this knowledge base (for banks and insurers such as Wegagen, Awash and Enat) are exactly these.