Interview: Dual listings can bring Romania, Bulgaria bourses closer
2011-05-20 11:39:34
Double listings can become the first step in building closer co-operation between the stock exchanges of Romania and Bulgaria, the general manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Valentin Ionescu, said in an interview with SeeNews.
Low liquidity has prevented dual listings of Romanian or Bulgarian companies on the other country's market so far even though there are no legal hurdles in this direction.
"The dual listing is the first step in collaboration and maybe another one is to launch a common index," Ionescu told SeeNews on the sidelines of The Rustle of Money financial conference organised by Bulgarian business news provider Profit.bg in Sofia on May 17 2011.
The Bucharest bourse already publishes the ROTX index of Romania's 15 most liquid stocks, a joint index of the BVB and the Vienna Stock Exchange.
According to experts and market players, a joint index makes the companies included in it more visible and recognisable.
Ionescu said that he saw the partnership with the bourse in the neighbouring country within a broader regional context.
"We can replicate here, in South Eastern Europe, what Vienna did in Central Europe with the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia. We can do that too in the region with Romania, Bulgaria and other small exchanges – Albania, Macedonia and Moldova."
"Romania and Bulgaria are members of the European Union, the other countries are not, but we can work together and we can be the centre here," Ionescu said.
The idea of creating a common trading platform or other regional means of co-operation is not new but it has not materialised, because markets in the region are still underdeveloped.
The bourses in Sofia, Belgrade and Skopje exchange on a daily basis trading data of their most liquid shares.
The Sofia bourse said earlier this year it was in talks about similar co-operation with the stock exchanges in Romania and Croatia.
"In my opinion we do not have to wait for others to bring good knowledge, we can create good knowledge," Ionescu said.
"Now, when we are getting out of the economic crisis, we can do that, and we can do it very easy, it is enough to be pro-active, to launch some instruments, some dual listings and then maybe go further, to buy shares in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange," he said, emphasising that BVB has not discussed the option of becoming a shareholder in the Bulgarian Stock Exchange.
The Sofia bourse, which earlier in 2011 went public in order to find a strategic partner, is in talks with several potential investors about the sale of the state-owned stake.
Last week, the Bulgarian Government approved changes to legislation to enable the sale of its stake in the stock exchange, with the aim of integrating the Sofia bourse into international markets.