MJQE CEO Mengly J Quach speaks at a public seminar titled “Understanding Cambodia’s Capital Market and Get Ready to Invest in Stock” in the capital’s Tuol Kork district on February 11. MJQE
Fully locally owned Mengly J Quach Education Plc (MJQE) plans to launch its initial public offering (IPO) in April to open up to investors, raise $10 million from the Cambodia Securities Exchange (CSX) and other schools to found.
In a Feb. 11 statement, MJQE, an umbrella organization for Aii Language Centers (Aii) and American Intercon Schools (AIS), announced that it has applied to the Securities and Exchange Regulator of Cambodia (SERC) for an IPO and is launching a Approval expected by March.
“We are now accepting expressions of interest and applications for pre-allocated IPO shares through March 10, 2023.”
“Please book or request the pre-allotment of shares now before the public subscription begins as the number of shares available during the public subscription is limited while the price per share is $0.51, which is subject to SERC approval , and the IPO is expected to be officially approved by mid-March.
“We plan to raise up to $10 million from the IPO by providing 5.88 percent of our company’s stock [under] the IPO.
“The gross proceeds to the company from the IPO, approximately $7 million, plus our internally generated funds and new bank loans, will be used to fund the expansion of 20 new campuses[s] about locations that [are] already secured in hand.
“In the event of greater than anticipated demand, we will seek approval for a larger number of shares as part of the limited initial offering [at] 20 percent,” it said.
SERC Director-General Sou Socheat confirmed to The Post on Feb. 12 that regulators have received the necessary documentation for the IPO application and that a technical team is reviewing the filing to assess whether the supporting documents meet the requirements or not.
However, Socheat said the legally required verification process could take three to six months.
During that time, “we will let them and the public know” whether or not all the paperwork is correct, he said, stressing that the company will have an obligation to correct any errors before the process resumes – “therefore it might.” us between three to six months for approval”.
Mengly J Quach, MJQE’s founder, chairman, CEO and namesake, recently told The Post that the plan is to list the IPO on the CSX’s main board — as opposed to the secondary growth board, which caters to smaller companies with high growth prospects – to raise funds to expand the education company’s operations and take steps toward its goal of 160 active campuses nationwide.
Previous plans to go public derailed in 2019 amid “kinda bad” economic signs – and then Covid-19 came along, forcing MJQE to put its IPO ambitions on hold until it was determined the pandemic storm had abated, laments he.
“One of the main goals will be to raise funds to open more schools and reach areas where there is a need — we have over a hundred schools ahead, right now we only have 15 campuses,” Mengly said. The Aii and AIS websites show they have seven and eight locations, respectively.
The CSX reported that a total of 18 companies listed on the local exchange — nine of which have listed shares while the rest have issued bonds — that have raised a total of $317 million through their offerings.
The exchange’s CEO, Hong Sok Hour, announced late last month that around 36,000 CSX trading accounts had been opened and confirmed that the exchange’s average daily trading value reached around $500,000 over the past year.
The CSX is jointly owned 55:45 by the Ministry of Economy and Finance and the Korea Exchange (KRX).
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