CAMBODIA’S new stock market will benefit companies and help them bring in extra capital for expansion, a Hong Kong expert said in a Thursday seminar.

Referring to securities markets and the private sector, Alec Yiu Wa Tsui, former CEO of Hong Kong Stock Exchange and former chairman of Hong Kong Finance Institute, said: “Newly listed companies will bring in new capital, win prestige, attract professional management, and earn more business opportunities.”

However, the former CEO said that there are burdens for companies that wish to become listed on the exchange. He named the cost of an initial public offering (IPO), the possibility of corporate restructuring before an IPO, and continued need for compliance with listing requirements – such as regular financial reporting and ac hoc disclosure of sensitive information – as factors.

“However with risk comes opportunity,” he explained.

The Kingdom’s first stock exchange is due to launch at the end of this year, after its implementation was delayed.

Sorn Sokna, chairman of the newly founded Financial Institute of Cambodia, said that a number of Cambodian companies already have a transparent and effective corporate culture, which means they have the potential to engage in the stock exchange.

“However, these companies have shown great reluctance in engaging with the securities market, primarily due to a lack of clear understanding in the ways they could participate,” he added.

Keat Chhon, finance minister and chairman of Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia, said the most important factor from the government’s side is that the bourse becomes a transparent, effective, just, sustainable, and investor-protective force in the economy.