Acleda Bank’s shareholder, ASA Plc., is planning to list on the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) in an initial public offering that could raise $89.6 million for 25 percent of the company’s stake.
The process for ASA to go public may be shorter than usual IPO exercises since they are already considered a public company with 10,000 shareholders.
ASA’s shareholders are mostly employees of Acleda Bank. ASA holds 25 percent of the bank’s shares.
Soleil Lamun, director of the Listing & Disclosure Department at CSX, told Khmer Times that ASA’s IPO will not be like other public offerings.
“They are considered a special case. They have existed since before the stock market was created. The regulator may not require them to go through all the regular procedures.
“It will probably be a shorter process, and we are hoping that they could come on CSX within this year,” he explained, adding that ASA intends to split their existing shares, which could create hundreds of millions of shares.
According to an ASA media release issued late Wednesday, the company is now preparing the listing.
“We are preparing the procedures and working on the conditions required to seek approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) and CSX.
“With the listing exercise, the public will benefit for its participation based on the growth rate of Acleda. The bank is seeing continued expansion backed by stable national economic growth,” it said.
