EBRD buys 5 pct stake in Bucharest Stock Exchange

Bursa de Valori Bucuresti SA

19/11/2014 10:14

BUCHAREST, Nov 19 (Reuters) - The European Bank for 
Reconstruction and Development has bought a 5 percent stake in 
the Bucharest Stock Exchange  ROBVB.BX  to help Romania 
strengthen its capital markets, an EBRD statement said on 
Wednesday. 
    An EBRD media adviser said the value of the transaction and 
the method it was conducted were confidential. 
    Based on current share prices, a 5 percent stake would be 
worth roughly 12 million lei ($3.4 million), based on Reuters 
calculations. The company has been listed on its own market 
since 2010 and has a market capitalisation of 233 million lei. 
    The exchange's chief executive, Ludwik Sobolewski, has set a 
goal to get the bourse upgraded to emerging market status in the 
MSCI index from its current status as a riskier frontier market. 
    Initial public offerings of three major state-owned energy 
firms in the last year have helped raise market capitalisation 
to 30 billion euros, similar to levels seen in regional peers 
Hungary and the Czech Republic. 
    The Bucharest stock exchange has also been cutting trading 
fees and easing tight regulations that had stifled foreign 
investors' access to the market.  ID:nL6N0RP29R  
    "The Bucharest Stock Exchange aims to act as a catalyst in 
financing the country's economy," EBRD First Vice President Phil 
Bennett said in the statement. "As a shareholder, EBRD will 
assist in further development of corporate governance at the 
bourse and in listed companies." 
    Bucharest Stock Exchange shares were trading at 30.8000 lei 
per share by 0940 GMT, up 0.7 percent on the day. 
($1 = 3.5411 Romanian lei) 
 
 (Reporting by Luiza Ilie; Editing by Mark Heinrich) 
 ((luiza.ilie@thomsonreuters.com; +4021 305 5262; Reuters 
Messaging: luiza.ilie.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net)) 
 
Keywords: ROMANIA EBRD/BOURSE