A New Zealand investor survey conducted on behalf of the Financial Markets Authority and NZX shows there is good support for companies making initial public offerings (IPOs) this coincides with plans to launch of NZX’s new growth market aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises
Many retail FX firms and supporting industry participants like SafeCharge have done huge IPOs in London through the AIM exchange. Moreover, Australia has had one big forex IPO with OzForex in 2013, which raised A$440 million ($416 million). New Zealand’s FMA is a very new regulator, and has taken huge steps to take NZ away from being a place where virtual offices and seedy firms operate and is now structured and emulating Australia. If New Zealand is successful in tightening it’s regulations, becoming business friendly and attracting business it could serve the IPO market well. FX companies could look to go public here and NZ could act as a smaller IPO market the same way the AIM market compliments the main LSE in the UK.
This particular survey stated that 75% of people had faith in NZ capital markets, and wish to make it easier to do an IPO there. It seems likely in the near future, with the Oceanic region positioning itself as forex friendly and major hub for the Asia-Pacific region that forex firms will flock. Could it be a good place for Asian and Oceanic firms to do IPOs in NZ instead of doing it with all the other ubiquitous firms in London while steering clear of capital requirements of larger exchanges? Only time will tell.
NZX Head of Markets, Aaron Jenkins, commented: “The research (from the survey) is also timely because of the work underway for the upcoming launch of NZX’s new growth market aimed at small and medium-sized enterprises. A key principle of the new market is simplicity. NZX intends to streamline the investment process by providing simpler rules and disclosure practices for listed businesses, subsequently reducing complexity for investors.”
This small and medium sized exchange, would no doubt serve as an attractive place for smaller forex IPOs and the like for the region. Read more on the survey from the official release and how the NZX supports the introduction of shorter, clearer PDS documents for investors.
For more on the global Forex industry see the LeapRate-Dow Jones Forex Industry Report.