Those 5 shareholders of RSE, which are also shareholders of the Latvian Central Depository (LCD), have also signed the share purchase agreement to sell their shares in LCD to RSE. RSE has received the required regulatory approval from the Financial and Capital Market Commission. RSE will be holding 81.08 per cent of the shares of LCD. The remaining 18.92 per cent is owned by the Latvian Privatization Agency, who has announced their intention to sell these shares during this year.
As a result of this transaction, when concluded, HEX Group will become the majority owner of the RSE Group, consisting of the stock exchange and the depository. The structure or RSE group will be similar to that in place already in Finland and Estonia and will form a part of HEX's Baltic Operations.
The closing of the transactions is expected to take place in July, after completion of the formalities required to enable the transaction by the Latvian shareholders, and the due diligence procedures by HEX. The new supervisory board and amended Articles of Association of the RSE are expected to be approved at the extraordinary shareholders' meeting of RSE on 11 July 2002. Further information about the transaction will be published after the closing.
