Central Bank of Armenia hopes that other companies will follow suit of Team Telecom

YEREVAN, June 22. /ARKA/. Armenia's Central Bank  hopes that many other Armenian companies will follow Team Telecom's suit and offer thier shares to  the public through IPOs, Central Bank  Deputy Chairman Armen Nurbekyan said. 

OJSC Telecom Armenia (trading as Team Telecom Armenia) is planning to place 40mln shares with the total cost of AMD 8bln 240mln. The placement will take place from June 7 to October 31 this year.

"The Central Bank is very pleased to participate in Team Telecom's IPO, which is an extremely important event in Armenia's capital market. If we look at the  financial sector of Armenia, we will see that it is dominated by banks. As a result our citizens do not have enough opportunities to save and make investments. It is the reason that the development of the capital market is one of the priority strategic directions for both the government and the Central Bank," Nurbekyan said. 

He said  this is the first time a telecommunications company is to conduct  an IPO and citizens will be able to invest in the real sector. 

"One of the most important tasks for development of the capital market and business in Armenia is high-quality corporate management through many small investors who can really participate in management", Nurbekyan said, adding that there are many individuals who will be interested in IPO. 

"We have examples of IPO of banks . I think that in case of Team Telecom Armenia there will also be activity on the part of small investors. On the other hand, I think that the only way to learn, is to try to do something. When people see that they make real investments into companies and start taking a consistent interest in the activities of companies, it can only have a positive impact on other companies," the Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank said.

He also said that the Armenian government is thinking about how to push large companies to IPOs. 

"Our colleagues from the government, in particular, from the Ministry of Finance are pondering over what should be done so that large companies  follow suit," he said. 'This is part of our capital market development strategy," Nurbekyan said. 

According to him, 'we need to understand the problems of large Armenian companies not taking advantage of vast opportunities of the capital market.'

Team Telecom Armenia provides Internet, digital TV, mobile and fixed communication services in Armenia. Since 2021, the company has been building Next Generation Network with a speed of 25 Gbps using 25G-PON technology. -0-