The most valuable company in each Southeast Asian country

Southeast Asia has been emerging as an economic powerhouse in the past decade. However, there are very noticeable disparities in the sizes of the largest publicly-traded corporations in countries within the region.

The most valuable companies in Indonesia and Singapore, Bank Central Asia and DBS Group, are each worth more than $60 billion, and both are banks.

In the quartet of Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines, the largest companies by market cap are all worth around $20 billion. Out of the four, two are banks.

Cambodia stands by itself, with its most valuable publicly listed company, Sihanoukville Autonomous Port, worth $1 billion.

Meanwhile, LALCO in Laos is a credit leasing company worth $312 million and Myanmar’s biggest company, First Myanmar Investment, is worth $139 million.

Finally, Brunei and Timor-Leste do not have public stock exchanges, but for different reasons.

Most of Brunei’s economy relies on the state-owned oil sector, which also helps make its sultan the world’s second-richest monarch. However, in Timor-Leste, a small population combined with limited access to credit and liquidity has led to limited opportunities for the creation of publicly-listed companies or an exchange.