Myanmar Firm Seeks Yangon Listing Amid Conflict and Sanctions

A small IPO with a long view

Concordia is attempting an IPO while a civil war and weak economy persist, targeting roughly $200,000 in proceeds. That is well below the bourse's inaugural IPO in 2018, which raised about $1.2 million, but it would restart main-board listings after a multiyear pause. The plan is to list on the decade-old Yangon Stock Exchange, with the first day of trading targeted for late December or early January.

At the company's Yangon office, Chairman Than Win framed the move as a long game. The family-owned distributor wants to become a professionally run firm built to attract foreign backing when Myanmar stabilizes. As he put it, "We are not listing for short-term sentiment" and "We are building an enterprise designed to thrive over the next 10 to 20 years."

How the company operates now

Concordia distributes medical and engineering equipment and has mostly funded itself through internal cash flow while keeping leverage minimal. Import curbs have become so strict that certain equipment has required over a year to reach Myanmar. The company now plans purchases at least 12 months ahead to cope with delays.

Local production is its workaround. Management wants to eventually use foreign capital and technology to manufacture at home some products it currently imports. Than Win pointed to dialysis consumables as one area, since bringing in heavy liquids comes with high freight and customs costs.

Long term investors benefit when they use better tools to understand evolving markets. We're hosting our first ever investor livestream on 11/17 to show you how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro, hosted by Briefs Finance CEO Jaspreet Singh. Save your seat.

The exchange and who trades there

Foreigners were allowed to trade shares starting in 2020, just before the pandemic and the 2021 military takeover jolted the economy. Even with that shift, the market is overwhelmingly domestic. As of March, local retail investors made up 99.86 percent of accounts, leaving 0.14 percent for foreign retail investors, and average daily turnover was about $11,000.

YSX Chief Operating Officer Min Thu said the Myanpix index has spent this year in the 800-point range, after sitting in the 400s for the prior three years. He added that three to four state-owned enterprises have shown serious interest in listing. At present, the pipeline includes neither a foreign-owned company nor a foreign joint venture.

What investors should notice

Since 2021, the listing push has unfolded amid conflict, a weak economy, and growing international isolation. Reports by the United Nations point to pervasive human rights abuses, while sanctions still keep many investors away from Myanmar. Concordia is gearing up for a time when those conditions ease. "We are positioning ourselves in advance for when conditions stabilize both economically and politically," Than Win said.

In plain English: Myanmar's market is tiny and retail heavy, but a fresh main-board debut signals an effort to rebuild listings and eventually reconnect with foreign capital. If you track frontier markets, watch how supply chains, policy and politics shape any recovery pathway in the months ahead.

Savvy investors gain an edge by learning how new tools can refine decisions. On 11/17, our CEO Jaspreet Singh goes live for our first ever investor livestream on how to use ChatGPT and Claude to invest like a pro. Register to join him.