Kenya bourse chief to leave office after completing two terms

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The chief executive of the Nairobi Securities Exchange (NSE), Peter Mwangi, will step down in November after completing the two three-year terms market rules allow, the NSE said on Friday. Mwangi oversaw the exchange's long-term goal of opening up ownership of the stock market to non-brokers through an initial public offering that closed last week. The NSE said in a statement the search for a new boss would start immediately. Founded 60 years ago in a hotel in the capital Nairobi, the NSE serves as the main entry point for foreign investors seeking a foothold in east Africa's fast-growing economies. Several Kenyan firms are cross-listed on neighbouring bourses. The NSE has assets of 1.4 billion shillings ($15.9 million) and had a pretax profit of 379 million shillings last year. It had more than 120 listed equities and bonds at the end of 2013. The market capitalisation for all shares and bonds listed on the bourse was about 2.7 trillion shillings at the end of 2013. (1 US dollar = 88.2000 Kenyan shilling)