Papua New Guinea’s Kina Group aims to list on the Australian Stock Exchange in late July—arguably the first PNG company to undertake such a move. Business Advantage PNG talks to Chief Executive Officer, Syd Yates, about what he sees as a ‘great opportunity’ for PNG.

Kina Group’s Syd Yates

The move follows its acquisition last month of a banking licence, through the purchase of Malaysian-owned Maybank, which will be rebranded as Kina Bank, making Kina Group the fourth-largest bank in Papua New Guinea.

‘Kina Group will seek a valuation of close to K400 million (A$200 million) when it lists,’ CEO Syd Yates told Business Advantage PNG.

It’s understood Yates and a Kina Group team have been in Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Auckland, Melbourne and Sydney this week, briefing analysts ahead of an Initial Public Offer (IPO) of shares, to be issued in late June.

The IPO will aim at raising about K200 million (A$100 million), according to Yates. Some PNG super funds have already committed to take shares.

Yates describes the prospective ASX listing as ‘a great step’ for Kina Group, and ‘a great opportunity’ for Papua New Guinea.

‘We will be one of the few PNG non-resource companies to list on the ASX and get access to international investors,’ he says.

‘If we make this a success,’ he says,’ others will follow. It will showcase Papua New Guinea and prove we can do things.’

Integration with Maybank

He says plans to expand Kina Group’s activities elsewhere in the Pacific would now be looked at after it was firmly established on the ASX and after the integration of Maybank with Kina Group.

‘Our priority is to integrate the two entities,’ he said.

Maybank was set up in PNG in 1994 as a subsidiary of the largest Malaysian banking and financial services business, Maybank Group, which is quitting PNG to concentrate elsewhere in the Asia-Pacific region.

New Kina Group Director, David Foster. Credit: Suncorp.

‘Kina Group intends to extend its physical presence in PNG, through expanding its branch network following the acquisition,’ explained Yates.

Formed in 1996, Kina was until recently a diversified non-bank financial services group, with funds under management to the value of K4.7 billion, with 8,000 lending clients and 150,000 members managed by its superannuation funds management arm.

Yates said the combined group would have a staff of 260. In a move designed to strengthen Kina’s board, former Suncorp Bank chief executive, David Foster, has been appointed as a director.