The Phnom Penh Post
Friday, 07 August 2009 15:01
By Nguon Sovan
Government and bank officials consider capital requirements and fiscal histories of companies seeking to operate exchange
TWO hundred attendees from government bodies, development partners and private companies took part on Thursday in a consultation in Phnom Penh that discussed the two draft edicts that will regulate aspects of Cambodia's nascent stock exchange.
Aun Porn Moniroth, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Economy and Finance, said the consultation marks the beginning of the process towards finalising the regulations.
"These two drafts are part of a series of 30 edicts we have prepared to run the upcoming stock exchange," he said.
The two edicts, or prakas, discussed Thursday were drafted by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Cambodia (SECC) and cover the granting of licences to firms wanting to deal in the market, and those that want to run it.
The prakas on the running of the market will grant an eight-year licence to each of the various operators of the stock exchange. Some of its provisions outline the capital requirements for firms wanting to run the market's functions.
A company looking to operate the stock market would need capital of US$9.52 million. The firm wanting to operate the clearance and settlement facility would need half that amount, $4.76 million.
The third company, which would operate the securities depository, would also need $4.76 million of capital.
A company wanting to act in all three capacities would need $19 million minimum capital.
The prakas states that the eight-year initial operating licence can be renewed prior to expiry for a further eight years, or indefinitely.
Participants at the conference suggested lower minimum capital requirements and raised the question of dealing with an article in the prakas that excludes any operator whose directors, senior staff or substantial shareholders have been declared bankrupt by a court here or abroad in the five years prior to the firm's lodging its application.
Nhean Vannak, a governance official at the Supreme National Economic Council (SNEC), said it was unfair to punish a person declared bankrupt in any business sector.
"An individual who has been declared bankrupt within five years but whose business was not involved in the financial or securities sector should not be refused the right to operate the securities market," he suggested.
However Chan Narith, director of the SECC's securities market-supervision department, rejected that argument in the interests of market confidence.
"The SECC will not allow that person [to operate] because there will be suspicions about the applicant's financial soundness," he said. Chan Narith was supported by Tal Nay Im, director general of the National Bank of Cambodia (NBC).
"Even though that person was bankrupt in another sector, they would still have a bankruptcy record," she said.
Tal Nay Im said the SECC should thoroughly consider the qualities of any firm looking to act as the operator of the securities depository.
"That must be done by a well-known, well-off and well-qualified firm," she said.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Japan's NTT DoCoMo eyes Millicom's Cambodia network
By Mayumi Negishi and Reiji Murai
TOKYO, Aug 7 - Japan's top wireless operator NTT DoCoMo Inc <9437.T> is interested in buying Luxembourg-based telecom operator Millicom's Cambodian network to boost its presence in Southeast Asia, an executive said.
Cash-rich DoCoMo, which controls half of Japan's mobile market, is hungry for acquisitions in other parts of Asia as growth slows in markets at home, in the U.S. and in Europe.
But DoCoMo has not decided to make a bid for Mobitel, which sources have priced at several hundred million dollars, and will consider other M&A targets in Cambodia and political and economic risks, said Toshinari Kunieda, senior vice president and managing director of DoCoMo's global business.
"It's like a marriage proposal -- you don't make an offer the day after falling in love at first sight, you look at other potential partners, too," Kunieda told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "But we will date."
DoCoMo is also hunting for investment targets in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and China, as well as in the Middle East, Oceania and Sri Lanka, as it chases a midterm target of boosting overseas revenues to 10 percent of its total sales in four to five years.
Based on its sales in the year ended in March, that would mean quadrupling its overseas revenues of 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion), of which about 60 percent now comes from roaming fees.
"It can't be done without M&A," Kunieda said. "We will have to hunt for a majority stake somewhere."
DoCoMo's recent foreign investments include a 26 percent stake in Tata Teleservices [TATASL.UL], India's sixth-largest mobile operator, a 30 percent stake in telecom operator Axiata's Bangladesh unit, and a 16.5 percent stake in Malaysian operator U-Mobile.
DoCoMo's shares closed up 1.2 percent, while those of No.2 Japanese carrier KDDI Corp <9433.T> rose 0.2 percent and third-ranked Softbank Corp <9984.T> fell 0.9 percent.
READY TO BET, AGAIN
DoCoMo incurred massive losses after spending nearly 1.9 trillion yen in the late 1990s and early 2000s to invest in overseas carriers to promote its i-mode mobile Internet technology and the W-CDMA 3G standard.
In Europe and the U.S., the company is now focusing on investing in software firms that could help DoCoMo raise its data-related revenues. It is not interested in Deutsche Telekom's T-Mobile UK unit, Kunieda said.
Last month DoCoMo said it bought a 35 percent stake in NexWave Wireless Inc's software unit PacketVideo for $45.5 million to shore up its music and video services ahead of the planned launch of its high-speed LTE network next year.
But in Asia, DoCoMo is ready to bet big, and in some cases is only waiting for certain countries to relax their regulations on foreign telecom ownership.
DoCoMo, whose operating profit slid 15 percent in April-June on sluggish sign-ups, could look at Millicom's Sri Lanka asset, Celltel, among other possibilities, "but I can't say that we would pick Millicom," Kunieda said.
Millicom has appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on the sale of its Asian assets and said last month that it had several potential suitors.
Malaysian telecom firm Axiata has voiced interest in buying Millicom's Sri Lankan and Cambodian operations, both worth at least $500 million, while Russian operator VimpelCom may be interested in assets in Laos and Cambodia, sources told Reuters last month [ID:nKLR441625] [ID:nL9469191]. (Additional reporting by Saeed Azhar in Singapore; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Joseph Radford)
TOKYO, Aug 7 - Japan's top wireless operator NTT DoCoMo Inc <9437.T> is interested in buying Luxembourg-based telecom operator Millicom's
Cash-rich DoCoMo, which controls half of Japan's mobile market, is hungry for acquisitions in other parts of Asia as growth slows in markets at home, in the U.S. and in Europe.
But DoCoMo has not decided to make a bid for Mobitel, which sources have priced at several hundred million dollars, and will consider other M&A targets in Cambodia and political and economic risks, said Toshinari Kunieda, senior vice president and managing director of DoCoMo's global business.
"It's like a marriage proposal -- you don't make an offer the day after falling in love at first sight, you look at other potential partners, too," Kunieda told Reuters in an interview on Friday. "But we will date."
DoCoMo is also hunting for investment targets in Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand and China, as well as in the Middle East, Oceania and Sri Lanka, as it chases a midterm target of boosting overseas revenues to 10 percent of its total sales in four to five years.
Based on its sales in the year ended in March, that would mean quadrupling its overseas revenues of 100 billion yen ($1.1 billion), of which about 60 percent now comes from roaming fees.
"It can't be done without M&A," Kunieda said. "We will have to hunt for a majority stake somewhere."
DoCoMo's recent foreign investments include a 26 percent stake in Tata Teleservices [TATASL.UL], India's sixth-largest mobile operator, a 30 percent stake in telecom operator Axiata's
DoCoMo's shares closed up 1.2 percent, while those of No.2 Japanese carrier KDDI Corp <9433.T> rose 0.2 percent and third-ranked Softbank Corp <9984.T> fell 0.9 percent.
READY TO BET, AGAIN
DoCoMo incurred massive losses after spending nearly 1.9 trillion yen in the late 1990s and early 2000s to invest in overseas carriers to promote its i-mode mobile Internet technology and the W-CDMA 3G standard.
In Europe and the U.S., the company is now focusing on investing in software firms that could help DoCoMo raise its data-related revenues. It is not interested in Deutsche Telekom's
Last month DoCoMo said it bought a 35 percent stake in NexWave Wireless Inc's
But in Asia, DoCoMo is ready to bet big, and in some cases is only waiting for certain countries to relax their regulations on foreign telecom ownership.
DoCoMo, whose operating profit slid 15 percent in April-June on sluggish sign-ups, could look at Millicom's Sri Lanka asset, Celltel, among other possibilities, "but I can't say that we would pick Millicom," Kunieda said.
Millicom has appointed Goldman Sachs to advise on the sale of its Asian assets and said last month that it had several potential suitors.
Malaysian telecom firm Axiata has voiced interest in buying Millicom's Sri Lankan and Cambodian operations, both worth at least $500 million, while Russian operator VimpelCom
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Higher incomes equal higher test results: study
Kyodo News
Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009
Elementary school students from high-income families scored notably higher than those from low-income families in last year's nationwide achievement exam, a government analysis of the results showed Tuesday.
Sixth-graders at public elementary schools whose parents earn ¥12 million or more scored 8 to 10 percentage points more than the national average in Japanese language and mathematics, while pupils from families with income of less than ¥2 million scored more than 10 percentage points less than the average.
A panel of experts under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology made the finding after conducting a survey on the parents of some of the elementary school pupils who took the standardized achievement exam, introduced by the ministry in 2007, revealing links between household income and the exam results for the first time.
The survey found the largest gap, as much as 23.3 percentage points, in the ability to apply basic mathematical knowledge.
The percentage of questions answered correctly by students with a family income of less than ¥2 million stood at 42.6 percent, while those with a family income of between ¥12 million and ¥15 million got 65.9 percent of the questions right. The national average was 55.8 percent.
Sixth-graders whose parents spend more than ¥50,000 a month on education other than school had 71.2 percent of the math questions right, compared with 44.4 percent among those whose parents spend none.
The panel concluded that the difference was a result of the income gap, saying the more parents earn, the more they spend on child education, particularly cram schools.
Hiroaki Mimizuka, a professor specializing in educational sociology at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo and a member of the panel, said the results point to the possibility that providing monetary assistance for education could improve students' abilities.
Thursday, Aug. 6, 2009
Elementary school students from high-income families scored notably higher than those from low-income families in last year's nationwide achievement exam, a government analysis of the results showed Tuesday.
Sixth-graders at public elementary schools whose parents earn ¥12 million or more scored 8 to 10 percentage points more than the national average in Japanese language and mathematics, while pupils from families with income of less than ¥2 million scored more than 10 percentage points less than the average.
A panel of experts under the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology made the finding after conducting a survey on the parents of some of the elementary school pupils who took the standardized achievement exam, introduced by the ministry in 2007, revealing links between household income and the exam results for the first time.
The survey found the largest gap, as much as 23.3 percentage points, in the ability to apply basic mathematical knowledge.
The percentage of questions answered correctly by students with a family income of less than ¥2 million stood at 42.6 percent, while those with a family income of between ¥12 million and ¥15 million got 65.9 percent of the questions right. The national average was 55.8 percent.
Sixth-graders whose parents spend more than ¥50,000 a month on education other than school had 71.2 percent of the math questions right, compared with 44.4 percent among those whose parents spend none.
The panel concluded that the difference was a result of the income gap, saying the more parents earn, the more they spend on child education, particularly cram schools.
Hiroaki Mimizuka, a professor specializing in educational sociology at Ochanomizu University in Tokyo and a member of the panel, said the results point to the possibility that providing monetary assistance for education could improve students' abilities.
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