Four State Firms Preparing to List on Bourse

In an apparent effort to encourage liquidity and confidence in the stock market, the government is preparing at least four state-owned enterprises for Initial Public Offerings, a securities firm and stock exchange officials said yesterday.

The government had previously announced that Telecom Cambodia, Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority and Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, were among only three state-owned enterprises preparing to list ahead of next year’s planned launch in July.

On Thursday Tang Yong Securities announced that it had signed an agreement with the government to prepare the public offerings for three state-owned companies.

Han Kyung-tae, director of Tong Yang Securities, said yesterday that his firm was in charge of preparing the IPOs for Telecom Cambodia and the Phnom Penh Water Supply Authority but not the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port.

But “the third state-owned enterprise has not been selected,” he said. “The third state-owned enterprise is going to be selected by the Cambodian government.”

Mr Han also said that Sihanoukville Autonomous Port was still targeted by the government to be listed publicly, but that the contract for preparing the public offering had gone to another securities firm.

Experts say the fourth state-owned enterprise to list on the bourse is likely to be either Phnom Penh Autonomous Port or Electricite du Cambodge, the national electricity provider.

In Pyo-lee, project director of the Korea Exchange, which owns 45 percent of the stock exchange with the government, confirmed that four companies were aiming to list on the bourse come next July, but placed doubts on their ability to be ready.

He said that Japanese firm SBI Phnom Penh Securities Ltd “had a chance” to win the contract to prepare the public offering for Sihanoukville Autonomous Port.

“The Sihanoukville Autonomous Port I heard has got a lot of Japanese funds and Japanese support. That is why [the government wants] a Japanese company to get the contract for the port,” he said.

Mr Lee would not comment what other company Tong Yang Securities is preparing. He predicted that only two or three of state-owned companies would be ready before July’s tentative launch date for the bourse.

Kenji Hirai, executive officer for SBI Holdings in Tokyo, declined to comment on whether or not his firm was in negotiations to prepare the public offering of Sihanoukville Autonomous Port.

 

 

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