Moneybase, which forms part of the Calamatta Cuschieri Group, in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce, organised a unique seminar on Capital Markets on Tuesday, 18 April 2023.
13 leading representatives of the capital markets industry together with Mr. Joseph Portelli Chairman of the Malta Stock Exchange and Dr. Marthese Portelli, CEO of the Malta Chamber of Commerce, gave their views on Capital Markets in Malta.
Interest from local businesses in borrowing money by issuing bonds or raising finance through Equity on the Malta Stock Exchange has continued to grow in recent years. The aim of the event to help familiarise companies considering a listing themselves with the ins and outs of the listing process. Leading stakeholders participated in the event and shared their experience of raising capital through a listing on the exchange. The attendance at the seminar, which was fully booked, attests to the growing interest in listing locally.
Alan Cuschieri, CEO of Moneybase and Co-CEO at Calamatta Cuschieri who opened the seminar entitled, ‘The Capital Markets Boom’ commented “Capital Markets has grown considerably in Malta, and today we all realise the importance for companies to be able to access finance easily to allow them to flourish and achieve their full potential. The success of capital markets in Malta is made possible thanks to a healthy environment for retail investors locally who are able to access capital markets cheaply and easily online or through their financial advisor.“
Moneybase is committed to helping businesses thrive, and is working towards this by leveraging its technology but also by bringing the community together through its network to create new experiences and communication channels.
Calamatta Cuschieri is a leader in capital markets in Malta providing services to companies which help them thoughout the listing process and helping them to raise finance swiftly through Bond issues or to raise capital via Equity listings on the Malta Stock Exchange
During his keynote, Nick Calamatta highlighted “The Investment and savings market in Malta is circa €15Bn, and this is expected to continue to grow as a function of more affluence and a growing population that has grown from circa 400k to 600k in the last ten years, as a result of this bank deposits of households today exceed €24Bn.” Similarly, there has been an large increase in corporate bond issues which since 2013 more than doubled in number, from 50 to 120 whilst the value of Maltese corporate bonds have gone from €1Bn to €2.5Bn. “
In his opening address for a panel discussion Patrick Mangion Head of the Capital Markets Division at Calamatta Cuschieri said “Borrowing money from the bank and borrowing money through a bond issue are no longer seen as alternatives to each other but as complementary to each other. The number of local corporate entities which have a listing on a local exchange stands at an all-time high of 106. This is a testament to the fact that the business community has become much more attuned to the benefits of listing. As we assist an ever-increasing number of local businesses in obtaining financing through a local listing, we share the main reasons which have spiked the interest in capital markets transactions locally.”
Marthese Portelli, CEO of the Malta Chamber of Commerce in her closing remarks said “
In today’s fast-moving world businesses are facing new realities and new exigencies, including on the financing front. We are firm supporters of agility and adaptability. The alliance between The Malta Chamber and Moneybase is offering businesses an alternative to traditional financial instruments in line with digital evolution and ecosystem transformation.”
Participants included Alexander Fenech from Brown’s Pharma Holdings p.l.c., Charles Borg representing PG Group, George Vella, Partner at Grant Thornton, Kevin Rapinett, CEO Halmann Vella Group, Jean C. Farrugia, Partner at DF Advocates, Luca Vella, partner at GVZH, Malcom Falzon, partner at Camilleri Preziosi, Nicholas Curmi, Partner – Ganado Advocates, Patrick Mangion, Head of Capital Markets at Calamatta Cuschieri and Jordan Portelli, Chief Investment Officer at Calamatta Cuschieri, Raphel Aloisio, partner at Deloitte.
The seminar was held at the Chamber of Commerce premises in Valletta and followed by a networking event.
The Malta Stock Exchange started operations in 1992, initially with Government bonds and soon followed by BOV and Mid-Med Bank IPOs. Today the exchange has just over €15Bn of securities trading and this has increased almost two-fold from €8.5Bn 10 years ago
Going public or listing you shares is an important tool for succession, increasing governance and growing a company profile. The fact that shareholders selling or financing through an equity issue have no tax incident is another advantage that business owners consider as more industries consolidate and M&A activity increases.
In his concluding remarks, Alan Cuschieri said, “We are delighted to have managed to get the best of what Malta has to offer together to share their knowledge, take part in some interesting discussions. I would like to thank all the panellists for their participation and all the businesses who attended this event.”
Moneybase has been working closely with the business community, listening to their needs and pain points and this is a first step towards our contribution towards local business. The company announced it plans to organise other initiatives in the future covering other areas of interest to business which will be announced soon.
Calamatta Cuschieri also provides Wealth Management services to businesses and intends to organise seminars on wealth management specifically for the benefit of local companies.
Calamatta Cuschieri Finance Group is one of Malta’s largest financial services provider which pioneered the local financial services industry as early as 1971. Today the company offers a wide range of services including Investment Advice, Moneybase a digital platform that offers online investing and payments, saving plans, retirement planning and wealth management services amongst others.
