Friday 4 March 2016

More SOEs expected to be listed on the stock market

By Hiran H.Senewiratne

The Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE) is expecting more and more State Owned Enterprises (SOE) to be listed in the market, where, currently, only a minimal number of such SOEs are listed, its Chief Executive Officer Rajeeva Bandaranaike said.

"If state owned enterprises are listed, it will certainly be a boost to the market. We are now expecting a large number of state owned enterprises to be listed at the CSE. At present the market is a little down but will pick up soon, Bandaranaike told The Island Financial Review at the launch of the CSE educational portal yesterday.

He said that this year, along with new Initial Public Offerings (IPOs), some state owned enterprises will also be listed on the CSE. "It is important for the country to have an active stock market in the region, he explained.

"The volumes will be low without much foreign participation but if the sentiment is right, I think the market can really move up from domestic activity alone, with SOEs coming in the future, Bandaranaike said.

Catering to a growing interest among the pubic in improving skills and knowledge related to the capital market, the CSE officially launched a portal which delivers content in English, Sinhala and Tamil. It adds a new dimension to the CSE’s investor education initiative, offering learning material at the click of a button.

Chairman, CSE, Vajira Kulathilake said that the launch of the educational portal is a landmark initiative in 2016. It is a partnership with thinkCube System (Pvt) Limited. "This would help to facilitate financial literacy and investor education is a key focus at the CSE, he said.

"We believe that this new online portal will offer the Sri Lankan public a convenient and proactive source of the capital market related learning, "Kulathilake said.

CEO thinkCube Mithila Mendis said that they are privileged to partner a prestigious institution, such as the CSE, in an exercise which is visionary and will result in benefits, like information being imparted to every person from school children to all levels of investors.

"We will be upgrading all information with the assistance of the CSE with updated technology, he said.
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