International law firm Baker & McKenzie says it expects about 25 percent growth in the number of African companies listing shares this year, should all the firms that have indicated plans to float an initial public offering (IPO) move ahead.

In recent years, African bourses have enjoyed significant growth and offered enticing returns to listed companies. Last year, the number of IPOs grew by over 30 percent, the highest level since the global financial crisis. During this period, companies have raised more than $2 billion from public investors. However, many are plagued by a limited number of IPOs, high fees and poor liquidity, which investors have complained about.

McKenzie, a major broker in mergers and acquisitions involving emerging markets, said 30 firms were preparing to list this year, up from 24 in 2014. It added that firms in the real estate, financial and energy sectors were expected to be most active and that most new listings would be on markets in Egypt, Kenya, Morocco, Nigeria, South Africa and Tunisia. “While there have been several false dawns for capital markets across Africa’s diverse economies and making predictions is notoriously difficult, we do see a more sustainable trend developing,” Koen Vanhaerents, global head of capital markets at the law firm, said in a report which Reuters said it saw on Friday.