“We should aspire to the development and capitalization of tourism projects via the stock market through the placement of public stock offering products,” suggested Enrique De Marchena Kaluche, a lawyer specializing in foreign investment, real estate, and tourism, today. He went on to ask: “What is needed?
De Marchena Kaluche is also a member of the Association of Hotels and Tourism of the Dominican Republic (Asonahores). During a presentation at the 35th Commercial Exposition that the guild is developing until today at Blue Mall Punta Cana, he responded to the concern raised by indicating that the first thing to understand is that the opportunity offered in the tourism sector is not only restricted to the hotel sector.
“Nothing prevents companies in the airport sub-sectors, the operation of tourist ports and complementary offerings, such as theme parks and restaurants, including fast food restaurants, from accessing the stock market,” he said.
He emphasized that “what is clear” to reach “the volume and maturity” necessary to see a “dynamic” securities market, is that “a greater number of companies understand the importance of compliance with legal, accounting, compliance and corporate governance rules and regulations in their operations”.
This, in order to make all their operations transparent, “leaving behind past practices, often forced by lack of knowledge of the industry by the public sector authorities”.
He understands that it will also be necessary for national authorities to recognize how highly competitive industries operate at the international level, such as the tourism, telecommunications, and mining industries.
He mentioned that tourism developers of renowned hotel chains, such as Marriott International, Starwood, Accor, Hyatt, Hilton, Meliá, and NH, are listed on international stock markets.
“The advantages of this type of fundraising, or structuring financing through the stock market, is diverse, and could be encompassed in different aspects from advising companies on how to manage their monetary and patrimonial resources efficiently,” he said.
It leads to a legal review
In his speech, De Marchena Kaluche emphasized that Dominican banking today “is not only a solid, stable and dynamic bank”, but also the main source of financing for the tourism sector, with a participation of close to US$1.5 billion.
However, he noted that there is a sudden growth of interest in more complex financing structures coming from Law 249-17 on the Securities Market and Law 189-11 for the Development of the Mortgage Market and the Trust in the Dominican Republic.
“The reality is that the announcement and then the launch of the public offering of shares made by César Iglesias, a company with roots that emerged in the middle of the last century, and the announcement of the launch of the preferred stock offering by Promerica, burst forth showing the potential of the securities market in the country,” he said.
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