April 20, 2016

Time to 'demilitarize' Myanmar businesses

Myanmar's military-owned companies are looking to privatize now that the country has a new, democratically elected government bent on establishing a transparent market economy.

On March 31, the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings, or UMEHL, the country's largest military-owned company, said it had applied to the Ministry of Planning and Finance to become a "public company" under the country's companies act. UMEHL is currently a government-affiliated "special company" under the special company act.

The aim is to make it easier for the company to draw money from private investors by allowing part or all of its shares to be traded without restrictions. Among Myanmar's major private companies, some 200 are registered as public companies. Their shares can be traded over the counter and owned by foreign companies. Only public companies can be listed on the Yangon Stock Exchange, Myanmar's first stock exchange, which opened in late March. (Courtesy of asia.nikkei.com)

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