No Ukrainian IPO will be in H1, 2012 - EBA
2012-01-03 16:34:35
Holding of Ukrainian IPO in H1, 2012, is not seen as possible, President of European Business Association (EBA) Tomas Fiala believes.
"It is difficult to speak about IPO under the current situation, markets became weak. Even on western trading floors stocks of Ukrainian companies are traded after all the others. The market sagged to its historical minimum and it is no sense to enter the market with a new offer," he said.
The last IPO of the Ukrainian company was in July 2011 at the Warsaw Stock Exchange, it was Coal Energy, led by EBA. "Since that time on, nothing else was succeeded. And it is difficult to imagine any IPOs in H1, 2012. If anything small and local is on the Ukrainian Exchange, it will be possible only in H2, 2012," Fiala is convinced.
The EBA President also said about the reasons due to which Ukrainian companies prefer western trading floors.
"First is corporate management. Here (in Ukraine - Ed.) it is dangerous to hold IPO due to imperfect Ukrainian legislation and corruption, impossibility to protect one's rights in a struggle against spread corporate raiding. Therefore, the majority of our large businessmen keeps their assets in western countries - Liechtenstein, Austria, Luxemburg, the Netherlands and Cyprus. Second, many of international investors prefer to invest in company stocks, which are registered abroad. The reason is the same - better protection of business. Plus listing in London and Warsaw, the most popular floors for Ukrainian business, expands a range of potential investors," Fiala said.