Local firms urged to tap Tokyo Exchange

Local firms urged to tap Tokyo Exchange

JAKARTA (JP): A Japanese official called on Indonesian companies yesterday to tap the new Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE) as investors there have already changed from being parochial and concentrating only on Japanese stocks to being broadminded, displaying an interest in Asian stocks.

"There has been a change of interests among Japanese investors. Their interests used to focus mainly on Japanese companies as well as on large and established Western firms," a director of the Listing Supervisor of the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Eisuke Nagatomo, told a seminar on listing with the TSE here yesterday.

He said that the growing interest was due to the fact that most Asian countries have been showing dramatic economic growth.

According to Nagatomo, due to the change, the stock exchange made some amendments recently to facilitate the listing of foreign shares, particularly those from Asian countries that see a growing need for capital from abroad.

The first amendment was the revision of its basic listing policy for non-Japanese companies.

"What we have done recently was to repeal such internal guidelines in order to enable Asian companies to apply for listing on the TSE," he said.

Secondly, the exchange repealed its "home country listing" stipulation, which required foreign companies to be listed first on their home capital markets before listing on the Japanese Stock Exchange.

Thirdly, the capital market relaxed one of its requirements concerning the time elapsed since incorporation. Previously, foreign companies were not allowed to list on the TSE unless they had been doing their business for at least one year.

Lastly, it had already cut its listing examination fee by half for foreign companies. Also, the annual listing fee has been lowered for foreign companies.

It has also simplified the documents needed to be provided in Japanese language by a foreign company to Japanese shareholders.

The amendments were reported to reduce the burden of foreign companies, but this effect is offset by this year's rapid Japanese yen appreciation against other Asian currencies, especially regarding the listing fee and the Profit and the Shareholders' Equity standards.

The seminar, which was organized by PT Daiwa Indonesia Securities -- a joint venture formed in 1990 by Daiwa Securities (with a stake of 85 percent) of Japan and Roda Mas (15 percent) of Indonesia, was said to be a response to the Indonesian government's hope of listing Indonesian companies on the TSE.

The two-hour seminar was also addressed by Tadanori Urabe, general manager of Daiwa Securities Co. ltd. and Kunihiko Morishita, Attorney-at-law Partner for Anderson Mori.

Last month, Yamaguchi, the president of the TSE, Yamaguchi made a visit here and held meetings with President Soeharto and other senior government officials.

Soeharto at that time pointed out that for further development of the Indonesian economy, it is necessary to raise funds not only from domestic capital markets but also from foreign capital markets, including the Japanese stock exchange.

So far, there is not a single Indonesian company listed on the Japanese capital Market.

But recently, the state-owned company PT Telkom made a public offering without listing on the TSE, which is the second largest in the world after the New York Stock Exchange.

As of last month, 1,709 Japanese companies and 80 non-Japanese companies were listed on TSE, which has a total market value of US$3.3 trillion. (13)