By NEIL HARTNELL
Tribune Business Editor
nhartnell@tribunemedia.net
The Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX) “eclipsed” previous records as it added its 23rd listing of the year yesterday, prior to staging its first-ever ‘Future Investor Conclave’ that aims to accelerate capital markets growth.
Keith Davies, BISX’s chief executive, told Tribune Business that some 30-40 private Bahamian companies of all sizes were set to attend Thursday’s event, which is designed to “demystify” both the exchange’s role and how the capital markets can benefit their businesses,
He billed the event, the ‘BISX 2015 Future Conclave’, as “a very good first step” towards accelerating the creation of a much deeper, and broader, Bahamian capital market than currently exists.
Describing the exchange as “ahead of the game” by beating its previous annual listings record by June this year, Mr Davies said BISX had “turned the curve” on its operational and financial performance.
This, he explained, was providing the sustainable platform from which BISX’s Board had charged the exchange with driving further market expansion.
“Coming into this year, our chairman, Andrew Strachan, really challenged the management team,” Mr Davies told this newspaper.
“BISX has really turned the corner in terms of operations and income, and we have the time and space to do different things in terms of building the market.
“He [Mr Strachan] has challenged us to grow the market and expand the market in terms of people’s knowledge of BISX and appreciation of the national stock exchange.”
Mr Davies said this led to the decision to connect with privately-owned Bahamian companies, ranging in size from small to large, via Thursday’s half-day conclave at the British Colonial Hilton.
Invitations had been sent out to around 50 companies, he explained, of whom 30-40 - none of whom were listed or had issued shares to the public - were set to attend.
The Conclave is intended to provide a forum for “intimate, close-knit, private debate” between BISX, its broker/dealer members and these companies - many of whom could be potential issuers/listees on the exchange,or use the capital markets to raise various forms of financing.
Among the broker/dealers set to give presentations are FG Capital Markets, RoyalFidelity, Colonial Pension Services and Leno Corporate Services. One BISX-listed company will also present.
“The point of this is it’s a very good first step,” Mr Davies told Tribune Business. “It’s designed to be targeted and direct. It’s designed to be intimate.
“We will use the information as a launching pad for the next step: To address the concerns and queries of other companies not invited or not in attendance.”
The BISX chief executive said the Conclave aimed to give attending companies a greater understanding of their potential “place in the market”, and how they could use both it and BISX to benefit their own businesses.
“One of the things we’ve found is that companies know about us, know we exist, but don’t understand how we can facilitate them,” he added.
“This is a capital markets building exercise. The more educated people are about the capital markets, the more business can be driven towards the exchange.”
BISX has seen market capitalisation on its primary listings tier jump to $3.85 billion, aided by recent Government debt and preference share issues. Its investment fund listing facility has also produced a great deal of listing activity in 2015.
“Just this afternoon, I approved the 23rd listing for the year for BISX,” Mr Davies told Tribune Business. “That’s on the funds side.
“We were ahead of the game by June this year. In terms of activity, we’ve eclipsed our best performance over the last 15 years.
“It’s testament to the hard work, perseverance and staying the course that is helping is to achieve our goals.”
The BISX chief said Thursday’s Conclave was intended to overcome the “steep learning curve” that companies typically encountered in preparing for listing on the exchange, going public and then complying with all the market’s disclosure and reporting requirements.
“The more information we get out to them, the shorter the time and space for them to make that leap,” Mr Davies explained.
“Our chairman is adamant that we take this step to broaden and deepen our capital markets. Ultimately, we want to demystify the process of accessing the capital markets and using BISX as an avenue to achieve these goals.”
He added that BISX was almost trying to achieve a cultural “transformation” in the way Bahamian companies, who traditionally have relied on their own resources, family, friends and the banks, think about raising and accessing financing.
“It’s vitally important,” Mr Davies emphasised of Thursday’s Conclave. “Every company that’s listed on BISX started off by talking to us.
“The only way you’re going to develop broader diversity and a broader set of companies you can draw from is to educate the market. If you don’t have the market, you’re not going to take that first step.”
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