Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings to pay a shareholder dividend, at 20% per share

After two years of operations, Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings is to pay a shareholder dividend, at 20 percent per share. The dividend was approved at the company’s December 18 annual meeting, said MTSH president U Win Aung.

The decision appears to mean a windfall for shareholders in the highly popular company, including senior board members.

“Our income derives from land leasing, housing, stores, a shopping centre, offices and condominium projects of the Thilawa Property Development Company, a branch of MTSH,” he told reporters.

Along with First Myanmar Investment (FMI), First Private Bank Limited, Great Hor Kham Public, Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation (MAPCO)and Myanmar Citizens Bank, Myanmar Thilawa SEZ Holdings Public, is one of only six companies expected to be listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange. Though the exchange opened on December 9, it is expected to start trading only in February or March next year, according to the Myanmar Securities Exchange Supervisory Commission.

When MTSH went public in February 2014, offering 2.145 million shares, the K21 billion (US$16.3 million) deal was two-and-a-half-times oversubscribed and its share price jumped from K10,000 to K15,000 soon after the offering. The share price now stands at K50,000.

A spokesperson for MTSH’s share information department said earlier this month that the company would begin selling over-the-counter shares again on December 20 after a temporary hiatus.

U Win Aung announced at the December 18 annual meeting that the K3.28 billion Zone A of the Thilawa SEZ, covering about 400 hectares, was already complete, with 52 investors having agreed to operate there. Of these, 11 have already completed construction and two factories were up and running. The total area of the SEZ is 2342 hectares.

When it opened, Zone A reportedly attracted foreign investors across the manufacturing, garments, processed foods and electronics industries. The firms were said to be based in Australia, China, Japan and Hong Kong.

Thilawa, located about 15 miles from Yangon, is the site of Myanmar’s first SEZunder development by Myanmar-Japan Thilawa Development Company (MJTDC). The firm is 51pc owned by Myanmar businesses and government, and 49pc by Japanese businesses, including Mitsubishi, Marubeni and Sumitomo corporations, and the Japanese government.

At the time of the first sale of shares, in April 2014, in order to ensure that as many buyers as possible could take part, individual purchases were initially restricted to lots of 500 shares each, with provision for additional purchases.

MTSH chair U Win Aung bought 693 shares, director U TunLwin bought 551 shares and director U ThureinAung bought 551 shares. Currently U Win Aung has more than 50,000 shares, U TunLwin has more than 55,000, and U ThureinAung more than 60,000 shares, shareholders were told in response to a question.

U Win Aung told shareholders, “Since the shares were sold, there have been more than 1700 share trades, with 3375 of the original 17,909 initial shareholders selling their shares back. Members of the board of directors bought back those shares.”

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