ASEAN bourses flex their muscles
The stock exchanges of ASEAN countries are attracting increasing attention from foreign investors with capital markets in the 10 member-bloc showing a strong momentum that is currently missing in other parts of the world.
After record IPOs in Malaysia this year, the stock exchanges of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are set to jump on the bandwagon and will announce a number of upcoming IPOs, while Myanmar is currently in the process to set up its own stock exchange to be operational in the next two or three years, it was revealed at the “Thailand Focus 2012” held in Bangkok from August 29 to 31.
“Thailand Focus 2012” is a conference organised by the Stock Exchange of Thailand and one of the biggest capital market events in the region. This year, it saw a record participation of regional and foreign investors and ended with a commitment by the regional bourses to extend their collaboration in the future.
The Cambodia Securities Exchange, which currently only has one listed company with a market capitalisation of $140 million, is expecting the listing of at least five more companies in 2013, three of them being state enterprises – two port operators and one telecom company, according to Hong Sok Hour, the bourse’s CEO.
In Laos, there are currently two companies listed at a combined market capitalisation of $860 million. Next year, Lao Telecom Corporation will join them. Dethphouvang Moularat, CEO and chairman of the Lao Securities Exchange, said that the country will expand the limit on foreign investment in Lao-listed firms from 5 to 49 per cent to attract foreign capital, a move that – together with other new listings – should be able to push the market capitalisation of the Lao bourse to $12 billion in 2013.
In Thailand, the market is expecting a big new IPO when CK Power, a subsidiary of construction conglomerate Ch Karnchang Group, issues shares in the fourth quarter of this year.
Myanmar will see its own stock exchange in two or three years from now. It is currently in the planning stage under advisory from Thai capital market experts.
In Indonesia, at least 12 companies are expected to conduct IPOs in the second half of 2012, bringing the total number of newly listed companies to 25 this year. The Philippines are currently revising their listing rules for small and medium companies, expecting a number of them to list in the near future. A larger company, Coal Asia Holdings Inc, plans to list in the last quarter 2012 on the Manila stock exchange.
In Malaysia, the upcoming big IPOs are satellite TV firm Astro, port operator Westports Holdings and IBG Reit, a real estate investment trust focusing on retail malls. Singapore’s bourse is expecting a number of local and regional companies to list on the exchange, with the latest IPO having been Far East Hospitality Trust, an operator of serviced residences. Another larger new IPO could be Altitude Aircraft Leasing, a trust backed by General Electric.
Vietnam will see the merger of its two stock exchanges in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi completed “soon”, said Tran Van Dzung, CEO of the Hanoi Stock Exchange. The merged bourse will also join the Asean Trading Link, a connected trading platform of the bourses of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines which was set up earlier this year to ease trading within the ASEAN capital markets and has the aim to establish an “Indochinese exchange community”, as the secretary-general of Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, Vorapol Socatiyanurak, puts it.
The ASEAN Trading Link, when fully combined, would comprise stock exchanges from six different countries with an estimated 3,600 companies and a combined population of 529 million. The market capitalisation of the combined exchanges, at $6.12 trillion, would be bigger than India’s economy and would be a strong rival to China’s and Hong Kong’s capital markets.
The stock exchanges of ASEAN countries are attracting increasing attention from foreign investors with capital markets in the 10 member-bloc showing a strong momentum that is currently missing in other parts of the world. After record IPOs in Malaysia this year, the stock exchanges of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are set to jump on the bandwagon and will announce a number of upcoming IPOs, while Myanmar is currently in the process to set up its own stock exchange to be operational in the next two or three years, it was revealed at the "Thailand Focus 2012" held in Bangkok from...
The stock exchanges of ASEAN countries are attracting increasing attention from foreign investors with capital markets in the 10 member-bloc showing a strong momentum that is currently missing in other parts of the world.
After record IPOs in Malaysia this year, the stock exchanges of Thailand, Cambodia and Laos are set to jump on the bandwagon and will announce a number of upcoming IPOs, while Myanmar is currently in the process to set up its own stock exchange to be operational in the next two or three years, it was revealed at the “Thailand Focus 2012” held in Bangkok from August 29 to 31.
“Thailand Focus 2012” is a conference organised by the Stock Exchange of Thailand and one of the biggest capital market events in the region. This year, it saw a record participation of regional and foreign investors and ended with a commitment by the regional bourses to extend their collaboration in the future.
The Cambodia Securities Exchange, which currently only has one listed company with a market capitalisation of $140 million, is expecting the listing of at least five more companies in 2013, three of them being state enterprises – two port operators and one telecom company, according to Hong Sok Hour, the bourse’s CEO.
In Laos, there are currently two companies listed at a combined market capitalisation of $860 million. Next year, Lao Telecom Corporation will join them. Dethphouvang Moularat, CEO and chairman of the Lao Securities Exchange, said that the country will expand the limit on foreign investment in Lao-listed firms from 5 to 49 per cent to attract foreign capital, a move that – together with other new listings – should be able to push the market capitalisation of the Lao bourse to $12 billion in 2013.
In Thailand, the market is expecting a big new IPO when CK Power, a subsidiary of construction conglomerate Ch Karnchang Group, issues shares in the fourth quarter of this year.
Myanmar will see its own stock exchange in two or three years from now. It is currently in the planning stage under advisory from Thai capital market experts.
In Indonesia, at least 12 companies are expected to conduct IPOs in the second half of 2012, bringing the total number of newly listed companies to 25 this year. The Philippines are currently revising their listing rules for small and medium companies, expecting a number of them to list in the near future. A larger company, Coal Asia Holdings Inc, plans to list in the last quarter 2012 on the Manila stock exchange.
In Malaysia, the upcoming big IPOs are satellite TV firm Astro, port operator Westports Holdings and IBG Reit, a real estate investment trust focusing on retail malls. Singapore’s bourse is expecting a number of local and regional companies to list on the exchange, with the latest IPO having been Far East Hospitality Trust, an operator of serviced residences. Another larger new IPO could be Altitude Aircraft Leasing, a trust backed by General Electric.
Vietnam will see the merger of its two stock exchanges in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi completed “soon”, said Tran Van Dzung, CEO of the Hanoi Stock Exchange. The merged bourse will also join the Asean Trading Link, a connected trading platform of the bourses of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines which was set up earlier this year to ease trading within the ASEAN capital markets and has the aim to establish an “Indochinese exchange community”, as the secretary-general of Thailand’s Securities and Exchange Commission, Vorapol Socatiyanurak, puts it.
The ASEAN Trading Link, when fully combined, would comprise stock exchanges from six different countries with an estimated 3,600 companies and a combined population of 529 million. The market capitalisation of the combined exchanges, at $6.12 trillion, would be bigger than India’s economy and would be a strong rival to China’s and Hong Kong’s capital markets.
