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Separate board to list BoI firms

15 Oct 2013 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Both the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) are currently working on a project to lure the Board of Investment (BoI) companies into the stock market in a bid to increase the number of listings and market liquidity, according to a top capital market official.

SEC Chairman Dr. Nalaka Godahewa told last week that a separate board would be introduced in addition to the existing Main Board and the Diri Savi Board to facilitate the process.

“We have agreed to allow the BoI companies to list on a separate board without having to wait three years to list on the Main Board,” he told a business forum organised by the CSE targeting potential new listings.

Currently, a company seeking a listing on the CSE, irrespective of being a BoI or otherwise, will have to follow the existing listing rules and thus, the BoI firms do not enjoy any special treatment.

Meanwhile, CSE Assistant General Manager for Regulatory Affairs Renuke Wijewardena speaking to Mirror Business said although this is a new development, they have not finalized any rules as yet.

“This is a new thing. But we have not yet finalized any rules so far,” he remarked.

However, to this end, a policy paper has already been prepared and both the SEC and CSE have extensively discussed them.

“These policy papers have been extensively discussed both at the CSE and SEC to address all possible concerns,” Dr. Godahewa added.

According to the BoI, there are about 1,700 BoI companies operating in Sri Lanka but did not have figures as to how many are already listed on the CSE.

“But I believe most, if not all leading Sri Lankan companies such as John Keells Holdings have some of their business units established under the BoI and most of these companies are listed,” said BoI Director Media and Publicity Dilip S. Samarasinghe.

Both the SEC and CSE are currently exploring all available options to lure more companies to go public in their quest to increase the number of listed entities to 400 by 2016 from the existing 288 and to improve the market capitalization to at least 50 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by the end of 2016. (DK)

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Separate board to list BoI firms

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