ACLEDA Holds Its First Public Offering Roadshow

ACLEDA Holds Its First Public Offering Roadshow

More than 500 participants yesterday participated in the ACLEDA Bank’s first roadshow for its initial public offering (IPO). It plans another for March 10.

ACLEDA, a locally-owned and leading commercial bank, got the initial approval from the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) for the bank’s IPO late last month.

The bank will be planning to issue 8,751,391 new shares with around 2 percent available, while, another 3 percent of existing shares – 13,127,086 – available to the public.

This [initial approval] has allowed the bank to officially carry out its book-building process, which started yesterday and runs to March 14. The duration allows the bank to invite all public investors to bid on the share price within the given price range, between 15,000 riels [$3.75] to 17,400 riels [$4.35] per share.

Dr. In Channy president and group managing director of ACLEDA Bank said the price was determined based on the evaluation of the bank’s performance and the development and progress of the institution. He said the bank will not look at only three years, but has a long-term plan.

In said that ACLEDA Bank has recorded a financial audit from 1993 until 2019 and the performance of the bank. Thus, the price range between $3.75 to $4.35 is set neither too low or too high.

“We evaluated the first registered capital, financial record and the performance of the bank so that we can come up with the maximum and minimum price,” In said.

He added the first roadshow was to reveal the detailed information of the equity price of ACLEDA Bank because this information is important for all the public and investors to know the maximum prices and minimum price and enable them to prepare for potential investment.

Ha Jong Weon, the chief operating officer at the Cambodian stock exchange, said that the roadshow was designed to help promote public awareness of the stock investment. ACLEDA Bank is the first IPO of the commercial sector in Cambodia making it a role model for all commercial banks to list afterward.

“As you all already know, ACLEDA Bank has lots of potentials to grow and is the first Cambodia bank and consistently generates a lot of revenue every year. I am sure that investors can’t wait for the official listing date, particularly now that ACLEDA Bank has announced it will allow individuals to become shareholders. This will bring a positive sign to both the Cambodia securities market and investors and especially the Cambodia economy,” Ha said.

He added that the share issuance of ACLEDA Bank will be a very good sample for other financial institutions of low-cost fundraising from the stock market to expand their operations in the country and in the region. In addition, the lower cost of the funds will create a win-win cycle because the bank can increase its lending to customers and at lower interest rates while profits might remain the same or even better.

“The listing of ACLEDA Bank is just at the time that our stock market is booming. There are seven more companies preparing the process to list their stocks and bonds this year and the number will increase double or triple next year. After the listing of ACLEDA Bank, I believe that the number of active investors and trading volume will increase a lot. This will also attract more companies and investors to join the market,” said Ha.

The final offering price will be determined based on the bids submitted during the book-building period. A subscription process will then follow allowing public investors to subscribe to the bank’s shares at the final IPO price from March 23 to April 4. The bank is then expected to be listed on the local bourse by April 27.

Men Pheakdey, director of the Licensing Department of the National Bank of Cambodia, said that ACLEDA Bank is the first commercial bank to issue equity. He said ACLEDA Bank has grown remarkably. Its services are nationwide and expanding to foreign countries.

“With the constant progress we see, the bank needs more capital to invest and develop its services and products,” Men said.

Director-General of Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) Sou Socheat said that this is an important milestone.

“I believe that everyone wants to be an owner of ACLEDA Bank through buying shares in it We have five companies listed as equity firms and three listing bonds. ACLEDA is the sixth equity firm in the Cambodia Securities Exchange [CSX] and will become the ninth company to list in it. But ACLEDA Bank is the first bank to issue equity in Cambodia,” Sou added.

“Allowing more retail investors to invest in the stock market than just institutional investors will benefit the CSX,” Sou insisted.