State-Owned Companies and the Stock Exchange: Why Should State-Owned Enterprises Enter the Capital Market?

State-owned companies are beginning to prepare for their entry into the capital markets. The Public Property Agency reported that the largest joint-stock companies with majority state ownership participated in the first training sessions on issuing corporate bonds, stock exchange listings, the capital market, and corporate governance. The first corporate bond issuances and stock exchange listings for these companies are planned for the near future.

At first glance, this appears to be about professional training for the management of state-owned enterprises. But in essence, it is part of a broader issue: how state-owned enterprises should finance their development, be managed, and disclose information in an environment where they are expected to demonstrate greater efficiency and transparency.

This is important for Moldova because state-owned companies play a significant role in infrastructure, energy, transportation, telecommunications, and other sectors. Their financial condition, quality of management, and investment decisions directly affect not only the budget but also the business environment, rates, competition, and the quality of services.

Access to the capital market could offer such companies an alternative to the traditional model, in which development depends primarily on the budget, loans from international partners, or decisions by the state as owner to retain the company’s profits or transfer them to the budget, for example. Corporate bonds will allow them to raise funds from investors, while a stock exchange listing requires a higher level of disclosure, reporting, and corporate governance.

This is precisely why the Public Property Agency links the reform of state-owned enterprises to the reform of the capital market. On the one hand, state-owned enterprises need new financing instruments. On the other hand, the capital market in Moldova itself cannot develop without high-quality issuers that are understandable to investors and large enough to increase interest in exchange-traded instruments.

For the companies themselves, this means a change in the rules of the game. A company entering the capital market must be prepared for greater public scrutiny: investors need financial statements, a clear strategy, risk assessments, transparent management, and predictable decision-making. This is not merely a technical requirement but a matter of trust.

This approach can also be beneficial for the government. If state-owned enterprises can raise capital through the capital market, this potentially reduces their dependence on direct budgetary support (for those that still receive it) and creates an additional mechanism for monitoring their activities. The market evaluates not intentions, but financial performance, management, and the ability to meet obligations.

However, issuing bonds or going public does not, in and of itself, solve the problems of state-owned companies. If a company has weak management, opaque spending, or an unclear investment strategy, entering the capital market will only make these problems more visible. Therefore, preparations for going public must go hand in hand with genuine corporate governance reform in each specific case.

In this sense, the initial training sessions are important not as isolated events, but as a signal of the direction to be taken. State-owned companies are gradually being prepared for a model in which they must be not only objects of state control but also participants in the financial market. This requires a different culture of accountability, a different discipline, and a different approach to efficiency.

For businesses and investors, the key question now is not whether the first bond issuances and listings will take place, but rather which specific companies will enter the market, with what kind of financial reporting, under what terms, and how transparent their investment history will be. This will determine whether the participation of state-owned companies will serve as a stimulus for the development of the capital market or remain a mere formality of the reform.

If the process is implemented consistently, it could have a twofold effect: increasing the transparency of state-owned enterprises while simultaneously revitalizing Moldova’s capital market. However, what matters here is not only the first securities offerings but also the quality of the companies’ preparation for public status. //July 9, 2026 – InfoMarket.