Romanian companies may learn some Sirtaki

The Athens Stock Exchange is planning to have three to five Romanian companies listed by the end of the year, with at least 20 such companies estimated to be listed by late 2002. The companies will be selected from those already listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange and not only.

Greek market officials say there are Romanian companies really close to being listed on the Athens Stock Exchange. With their stock traded in Greece, the Romanian companies will gain access to a much better capitalised market than the one in Romania.

“So far, we have had contacts with more than 20 Greek capital companies in Romania and with more than ten fully Romanian owned companies in our attempt to attract issuers for the Greek Stock Exchange, which include Maillis, already listed on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Bestfoods, Sometra, Dorna, Romanian Construct.

I think some of these companies are really close to being listed in Greece,” says Vassilios Margaris, director general of the Stock Exchange Centre in Salonika, through which the listing of the companies from emerging markets is done on Athens Bourse. The listing may be done in a special section destined to companies on the emerging markets, called EAGAK.

The conditions for listing on EAGAK are some three million euros in capital and profit over the past two years in business. Listing is done by Greek Depository Receipts (GDR), which are securities issued by Greek banks attesting ownership over a number of shares of the issuer company. GDRs may be traded regardless of the shares being traded on the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The officials of the Bucharest capital market welcomed the initiative of the Greek Bourse.

“This is the first effort they have made. Still, Greek capital companies have come to our Stock Exchange, before ours reached theirs. Maillis is a very good example, with Intrarom likely to be the second Greek-capital company listed in Romania,” Sergiu Oprescu, chairman of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, told Ziarul Financiar.

Stere Farmache, general manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, says listing on the Romanian Stock Exchange before listing in Athens could have some advantages, though.

“The companies listed in Bucharest first become more visible. On the other hand, this may result in a higher trading volume on the Romanian market,” Stere Farmache said.

EAGAK was set up in 1997 and has recently become operational, following ministerial decisions and regulations of the Capital Market Commission in Greece. This stock exchange is one of the five co-ordinated by the Athens Stock Exchange and destined to trading securities issued by developing countries, mainly from SE Europe and the Balkans.