More state-run businesses and private companies are set to make their debut on the South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPX) this year. However, SPX executive director Gaynesh Rueben clarified that getting listed does not imply privatisation. Though government policies and strategies largely influence the timeline of state-owned enterprise listings, it’s crucial to clarify that listing isn’t synonymous with privatisation, he expressed.
The SPX aims to persistently offer avenues for investment, fundraising opportunities, and wealth generation through reliable, regulated, and technologically advanced trading platforms. It continues its dedication to the amplification of product diversity, an increase in the number of entities listed on the equity market, the attraction of more issuers to the debt market, enhancing liquidity, a surge in trading activities, and aligning strategic alliances with other established exchanges.
The SPX also advocates for transparency, accountability, good governance, and compliance to improve the exchange. Rueben asserts that listings would help state-run businesses acquire market-based financing for business growth and expansion, increase transparency aligning with industry norms, and boost market confidence to provoke investor participation.
Among the trustees currently listed in the exchange is Energy Fiji Limited, a statutory monopoly not subject to market competition or discipline. SPX reveals the energy company’s interest in being admitted to the official list of the exchange.
Once its non-voting shares are quoted on the SPX and the initial constraints lifted, shareholders will be able to sell those securities on the exchange, much like any other quoted shares. The exchange made significant progress in encouraging participation from local, institutional, retail, and international investors, says Rueben, while promising to carry forward these endeavours through awareness and investor education programs. Nonetheless, the SPX will maintain a neutral position on necessary sanctions and enforcement actions favouring orderly trading in the best market interests.