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(Bloomberg) -- A Myanmar company is going public in the middle of a civil war and economic downturn, betting on an eventual recovery.
Concordia Pcl expects to raise about $200,000 in an initial public offering that will pave the way for Myanmar’s first main-board stock listing in more than three years. That compares with about $1.2 million raised in the bourse’s first IPO in 2018.
Its chairman, Than Win, said the listing is intended to prepare the family-owned business for longer-term growth rather than fund a major expansion now.
The medical and engineering equipment distributor wants to transform itself into a professionally run company, positioning it to attract foreign investment and expand when Myanmar’s political and economic conditions stabilize.
“We are not listing for short-term sentiment,” Than Win said in an interview at his office in Yangon. “We are building an enterprise designed to thrive over the next 10 to 20 years.”
It’s an unusual strategy in a country where businesses have grappled with conflict, economic disruption and international isolation since the military seized power in 2021. The United Nations has documented widespread human rights abuses in Myanmar, which is subject to various international sanctions putting it off limits to many investors.
Concordia says import restrictions have become so cumbersome that some machinery has taken more than a year to arrive, forcing it to plan purchases of key equipment at least a year in advance. The company, which has largely funded its operations through its own cash flow with minimal debt, sees local manufacturing as one way around those constraints.
Eventually, it wants to use foreign capital and technology to locally manufacture some products it now imports. One opportunity is making consumables used in kidney dialysis, Than Win said, because importing heavy liquids carries high freight and customs costs.
Concordia is expected to begin trading in late December or early January on the Yangon Stock Exchange, becoming the ninth company on the main board of the decade-old bourse. The exchange began allowing foreigners to trade shares in 2020, shortly before the pandemic and military takeover disrupted Myanmar’s economy.
But the market remains overwhelmingly domestic. Local retail investors accounted for 99.86% of investors as of March, compared with just 0.14% for foreign retail investors, according to data compiled by the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum. Average daily trading value was only about $11,000.
The benchmark Myanpix index has averaged in the 800-point range this year, compared with a 400-point range over the previous three years, according to YSX Chief Operating Officer Min Thu. He said investor interest and inquiries have increased since early 2026.
Min Thu said Concordia is “just the beginning of a pipeline,” with the exchange expecting another company to join its pre-listing board by March and hoping for at least one more main-board listing by the end of 2027. Three to four state-owned enterprises have also expressed serious interest in listing, he said.
No foreign-owned company or foreign joint venture is currently in the pipeline to list, according to Min Thu. Concordia, meanwhile, is already preparing for the eventual return of foreign investment.
“We are positioning ourselves in advance for when conditions stabilize both economically and politically,” Than Win said.
--With assistance from Balazs Penz and Bertha Wang.
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
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