The company distributed 1072 shares to the public at MNT 933 per share respectively and has been running on deficit since 2013. However, the company managed to settle most of its debt in 2017.

The amount of dividends will be set after an audit on its 2018 financial report. After that, the board will hold a meeting to submit its request for the distribution to the Cabinet for suggestions. Preliminary schedules of the final decision has been set in April. “This matter is different from the upcoming potential initial public offering (IPO). Dividends will be distributed regardless of the IPO process,” explained Mr. Gankhuyag.

IPO financing to be spent on improving profitability and infrastructure
According to officials, 1.3 million citizens who own ETT shares have not yet opened brokerage accounts. Since the establishment of ETT information center in May 2018, over 500,000 people have opened brokerage accounts. If the ETT board decides to distribute dividends to the public, people with the account will have instant access to the financing.

Mr. Gankhuyag also informed that the preparatory works of the IPO are mostly complete. The company is ready to present a bill to the Parliament if five investment banks and an audit firm are selected.

Initially, ETT will offer 30 percent of its stake at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and could potentially seek dual-listing at the New York Stock Exchange later on. According to Mr. Gankhuyag, the company is requiring USD 1 billion to increase profitability, such as continuing the railroad construction and establishing coal preparation plant, while the necessary nationwide infrastructure is estimated to total USD 2 billion.

Last year, the company reportedly improved its governance, financial and human resource policies, as well as redetermining its reserves and completing the IPO preparation.

With the Australian Joint Ore Reserves Committee (JORC) Code, ETT’s coal reserve was confirmed to be 7.3 billion tons. Thus, international organizations view that the company is fully capable of raising the necessary financing, noted Mr. Gankhuyag.