NZX held its annual Listed Issuer Forum in Auckland yesterday, attended by a record number of senior executives from listed companies. Around 110 people from some 70 listed issuers attended the event.
Topics covered included:
- NZX Update: presented by Tim Bennett, NZX CEO; and Joost van Amelsfort, NZX Head of Market Supervision
- Leading Investor Relations: presented by Julie Chadwick, Corporate Communications Manager, Comvita Limited; and Fraser Gardiner, Head of Investor Relations, Contact Energy Limited. Comvita and Contact were winners of the 2014 INFINZ Best Communicator Awards
- Same class offers, a new approach to raising quoted equity or debt under the Financial Markets Conduct Act: presented by Tim Tubman and Ross Pennington, Partners, Chapman Tripp
- Life as a Non-Executive Director in the 21st Century: presented by Joan Withers, Chair, Mighty River Power Limited; Deputy Chair, Television New Zealand Limited; Director ANZ Bank New Zealand Limited; Trustee, Tindall Foundation; and Trustee, Louise Perkins Foundation
In his speech, Tim Bennett spoke about the fact that New Zealand’s capital markets have entered a new era: “We now have a much more diverse marketplace than we did two years ago, which will continue to grow and further diversify in years to come.”
“Growth in our markets is being driven by KiwiSaver, which continues to grow strongly, with $3.5 billion in net funds inflow to 30 June 2014 and total funds under management now $21.8 billion. It is interesting to note that when compulsory superannuation was first launched in Australia, market capitalisation to GDP in Australia was under 50% and now this is around 110%. Comparatively, NZX’s market capitalisation to GDP is currently around 40%, illustrating the scope for potential future growth.
“The establishment phase for the Financial Markets Conduct Act, which is a key enabler for the markets, is now complete and the focus is shifting from the past to what the future will look like. There are two key features of the Act relating to NZX’s markets: same class issuance, which for listed businesses, significantly lowers the cost of raising additional capital, and the ability to create a range of new market places.”
“On that front, NZX is working towards the launch of the NXT market which is a new market that will have a different disclosure regime for smaller, high growth companies across a range of different sectors. The FMC Act also allows for crowd funding which has seen some early success.”
“We have an extremely vibrant IPO market. Since the beginning of 2012 we have listed 24 new businesses, with $6.6 billion new capital raised. These funds have been used, in the case of the Government share offers, to reinvest in schools and hospitals, and in other cases, to fund the future growth of businesses.”
“We are seeing a diverse range of businesses listing: from agriculture to software as a service companies; from those with a domestic bias to others with globally focused strategies, and businesses with different return profiles; from early stage growth to mature, high yielding businesses. The profile of investors is unchanged with 25% domestic retail, 35% domestic institutions and 40% offshore institutions.”
“NZX, like others in the market, needs to evolve with these changing times, and on this front we have made some significant changes across the business. We have improved our governance of the regulatory function through the introduction of the Regulatory Governance Committee, increased resourcing in the regulation, and we are focused on improving communication around how NZX, NZMDT and the FMA regulate the markets.”