Myanmar’s first stock exchange backed by Japan’s public and private sectors will promote local bourse to investors in Tokyo next month

Myanmar’s first stock exchange backed by Japan’s public and private sectors will promote the bourse in Tokyo next month, aiming to lure Japanese investors ahead of the scheduled enforcement of a new company law deregulating foreign ownership of local firms.

The planned presentation in Tokyo of the two-year-old Yangon Stock Exchange, or YSX, is part of an investment seminar to be organized on April 18 by Daiwa Securities Co., which established the bourse’s operator with the state-owned Myanma Economic Bank and Japan Exchange Group Inc., according to the Tokyo-based brokerage.

Four more companies in Myanmar are preparing to debut on the YSX within this year, bringing the total number to nine, Masaharu Harada, director on the YSX board, said Sunday at an event marking the second anniversary of the bourse in the country’s commercial capital of Yangon.

With technical support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency, Tokyo’s development aid arm, the YSX is planning to form a special task force with law and accounting firms and brokerages to assist local companies in going public, Harada said.

The stock exchange estimates that some 70 companies could potentially go public as they follow appropriate accounting standards and post enough profits to meet the criteria of an initial public offering, according to the YSX.

But trading volume on the bourse stood at K740 million ($554,000) last month, the lowest since the commencement of share trading in March 2016. The number of stock trading accounts now stands at about 34,000, with less than 5 percent of them involved in daily trading.

The new Myanmar Companies Law exempts foreign firms from various regulations unless they hold a stake of over 35 percent in local companies, paving the way for their more active investment in Myanmar businesses.

U Maung Maung Win, chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission and deputy minister of the Planning and Finance Ministry, said at the ceremony that the authorities aim to vitalise the struggling bourse by increasing trade-matching sessions from the current two times to four times daily. The stock exchange is endeavoring to triple the numbers of listed firms and investors in two years’ time, Harada said.

The first modern stock exchange in the emerging economy was established in December 2015 with a capital investment of K32 billion, with Myanma Economic Bank holding a 51 percent interest, Daiwa Securities 30.25 percent and Japan Exchange Group 18.75 percent.

The five currently listed companies are First Myanmar Investment Co., First Private Bank, Myanmar Citizens Bank, Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public Ltd. and TMH Telecom Public Co.

(The Myanmar Times: https://www.mmtimes.com/news/myanmar-promote-local-bourse-investors-tokyo-next-month.html )

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