The conglomerate Royal Group’s telecommunications operator CAMGSM PLC, well known as Cellcard was granted approval in principle from Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) yesterday on equity securities listing eligibility review, which confirmed that the company is able to fulfill the listing requirements on the bourse, according to a CSX press release.
The approval reflects that CAMGSM PLC has shareholders’ equity of not less than about $7.3 million at the date of filing the application for initial listing at the exchange and generated net profit of not less than about $0.5 million for the latest full financial year prior to the date of filling application and the aggregate for the net profit not less than around $0.74 million for the latest two financial years, according to CSX’s listing rules for the main board.
Kim Sophanita, Director of Market Operations at CSX, told Khmer Times yesterday that Cellcard will become the first listed telecommunication company in the CSX’s main board after completing all the process successfully. The main board of stock market has had 7 stocks as of the fourth quarter of 2022 including PWSA, GTI, PPAP, PPSP, PAS, ABC and PEPC.
“It means the company has passed the first stage of issuance process. It is now eligible to further request approval from the regulator. Once they got the approval, investors will be able to subscribe those shares,” said Sophanita. There are two stocks on the growth board of stock market that include DBDE and JSL. Bond market is also operated on CSX.
Hanna Mark, Group CFO of Royal Group, revealed the plans to Khmer Times recently that the company would issue bonds for two of its information, communications and technology business portfolios to borrow about $130 million—$70 million for Cellcard and $60 for EZECOM—from the public investors to develop technical hard and soft infrastructure.
“We have started the process to issue the bonds next year … we will the fund raised from selling these bonds to buy more sites, towers, antennas, equipment and other things to expand our coverage around the country. We will raise more funds than the railway because telecommunication is so more expensive than railway, especially the communication equipment is very expensive,” said Hanna.
The listing rules states that the number of shareholders holding less than 1 percent voting shares, who hold 10 shares or more, shall be at least 200 as of the date of filling application, while Number of shares held by shareholders holding less than 1 percent voting shares shall be at least 7 percent of the total voting shares, unless otherwise determined by the CSX. “We want to build so many sites. So, it would be a very big investment,” he said.
CAMGSM PLC is the second company that has received such approval from CSX early this year and the ninth one that is going to be listed on the main board of the stock exchange—the first market that establishes operates for the securities listing of potential listed companies which are standardized and hug capital and allows all companies to bring their shares after listing to list and trade on the CSX’s platform, according to the press release.
The press release shows that to supply telecommunications services and equipment in Cambodia such as installation and operation of all equipment and machinery that are used in connection with the operation of the GSM mobile network, CAMGSM PLC—incorporated in 1996—has 52 retail outlets, 2,900 dealers and approximately 3,000 cell sites nationwide.
CAMGSM PLC has to follow further legal procedures as per rules and regulations to get approval on public offering from the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) and meet further listing requirements set by CSX to be officially listed and have its securities traded by investors in the secondary market on the bourse, according to the press release.
This article was first published in Khmer Times. All contents and images are copyright to their respective owners and sources.
