The Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE) has registered 10 new listings over the last two years spanning six distinct asset classes, marking the exchange’s busiest stretch of capital market activity since the historic Safaricom IPO in 2008.
The listings cut across a wide investment spectrum, including corporate bonds, an infrastructure fund, two Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), an equity initial public offering, a listing by introduction, an Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF), an asset-backed security, and Kenya’s inaugural Islamic Sukuk.
The momentum reflects a significant evolution in Kenya’s capital markets landscape as declining interest rates, renewed investor confidence, and the government’s privatisation drive combine to expand the NSE beyond its traditional dependence on equities and government debt instruments.
Three additional listings are already lined up before year-end: the TRIFIC USD Green I-REIT scheduled for 23 June, Family Bank through a listing by introduction, and the Park Inn Income REIT.
The current wave of activity began in July 2024 with the listing of the Linzi FinCo Sukuk, Kenya’s first Shariah-compliant capital markets instrument, which raised KSh3 billion.
Momentum accelerated sharply in July 2025, when the exchange recorded three listings within a single month. These included the KSh44.79 billion Linzi FinCo 003 Infrastructure Asset-Backed Security created to finance Talanta Sports City, the Satrix MSCI World Feeder ETF, which became Kenya’s first equity-based ETF, and Shri Krishana Overseas, the first new equity listing on the NSE since 2020.
The latter half of 2025 saw further activity in the debt market. East African Breweries Limited listed a KSh16.76 billion medium-term note in November that was oversubscribed by 152%, while Safaricom followed in December with a KSh20 billion green bond that attracted applications worth KSh41.4 billion, translating to a 175% oversubscription and the largest green bond issuance ever recorded in Kenya by value.
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The pace has intensified further in 2026. Kenya Pipeline Company listed in March through what became the country’s biggest IPO since Safaricom, raising KSh106.3 billion at a subscription rate of 105.7%.
That same month, Africa Logistics Properties introduced the ALP I-REIT, East Africa’s first industrial REIT and the first US dollar-denominated security to trade on the NSE.
May added two more major listings: the KMRC sustainability bond, which attracted KSh9.4 billion in bids against a KSh3 billion target for a 312% oversubscription rate, and the Spearhead Africa Infrastructure Fund, Kenya’s first listed infrastructure-focused fund.
The resurgence in listings has coincided with a sharp rally in market performance. The NSE 20 Share Index climbed 54.1% year-on-year to 3,431.56 points during the first quarter of 2026, while total market capitalisation rose 57.1% to KSh3.23 trillion over the same period.
Equity turnover more than doubled, surging 122.3% year-on-year to KSh58.39 billion in Q1 2026. Meanwhile, bond market turnover crossed the KSh1 trillion mark within a single quarter for the first time in history, reaching KSh1.08 trillion in just three months.
NSE Chief Executive Frank Mwiti has described 2026 as a breakout period for the exchange, citing a robust pipeline of both debt and equity issuances expected to sustain momentum through the remainder of the year.
