MTI IPO Forum – An ideal platform for IPO hopefuls

Companies hoping to go public need to clearly identify the challenges and opportunities available through a public listing. The MTI IPO Forum will offer an opportunity for IPO hopefuls to take learnings from successfully listed companies, while also drawing on the experience of companies that have recently ventured into the IPO domain.

The MTI IPO Forum, organised by MTI Corporate Finance, will be held on Thursday, 4 November at the Taj Samudra Hotel.

The forum will feature corporate leaders including Dr. Anura Ekanayake, Chairman – Ceylon Chamber of Commerce,  Asgi Akabarally, Director – Akbar Brothers, Asite Talwatte, Partner – Ernest & Young, Maithri Wickremesinge, MTI Legal Consultant, Malinga Arsakularatne, CFO – Hemas Holdings, Maninda Wickremasinghe, Country Head – Fitch Ratings, Nishan Fernando, CFO – Odel, Ranil  Pathirana, Finance Director – Hirdaramani, Surekha Sellahewa, CEO – Colombo Stock Exchange, Trevine Jayasekara, Group Finance Director – Brandix Lanka and Vajira Wijegunawardena, Director – SEC.

MTI Corporate Finance Business Lead Kapila Liyanage, MTI Associates Deshal Pandithage and Niroza Hussain will also be featured in the Forum.

The decision to go public is a result of various organisational objectives such as expansion, maintaining financial leverage, entry into new markets, exposure to other investment opportunities, retaining the best pool of management resources.

Such a decision could also crop up due to regulatory requirements. On the other hand, a large group of companies may list one of its smaller subsidiaries in an IPO to ‘test the waters’ of a public listing.

Achieving such objectives will require access to various sources of capital and also create multiple financing alternatives such as equity, convertible debt and better rates on bank loans.

Prior to the actual listing application, a company needs to look at its long term strategic direction of the company, looking at the challenges and opportunities available, and mapping out the action plans to overcome these challenges and optimize on the opportunities. This will also convey a clear message to potential investors on the actual returns they will receive on their investment in the long run. The valuation of the company will also reflect the strategic initiatives undertaken by the company.

“Listing takes a company to the next level. Once the need to go public is identified, a company must clearly map out its strategic direction, before moving ahead with listing.

The most successful public companies are those who have understood this prior to listing,” said Deshal Pandithage – MTI Corporate Finance Associate.

MTI Corporate Finance is a recently launched subsidiary of Global Management Consultancy MTI Consulting.

MTI Corporate Finance offers a full range of corporate finance solution in the major domains of corporate funding and IPOs, incorporations and acquisitions, asset management, and governance and compliances.

MTI Corporate Finance aims to assist its clients by preparing them for an IPO through strategic advisory and risk management audits, valuation and prospectus development and the actual application and listing process. The unit is backed by a team of corporate finance specialists with extensive experience in IPO facilitation and related finance solutions.