Mercado Alternativo Bursátil To Start On Monday With The Incorporation Of 28 Sicavs From 17 Managing Entities - The Incorporation Of Sicavs Into MAB Will Be Carried Out Gradually

The Mercado Alternativo Bursátil’s (MAB) trading system, will start operations next Monday, May 29th, with the incorporation of 28 SICAVs into the market. The rest of SICAVs that file for access to MAB will join it on a gradual basis. The managing entities that will incorporate SICAVs at the start of MAB are as follows: Santander Gestión, Banif Gestión, BBVA Patrimonio, Arcalia Inversión, UBS Gestión, Gesbeta, Credit Suisse Gestión, Gesmadrid, Gaesco Gestión, Credit Agricole A.M., EDM Gestión, Altegui, Riva y García Gestión, NordKapp, NMAS1 Gestión, Ahorro Corporación Gestión, Ges-Layetana y Aguilar and de la Fuente.

These entities account for 53% of the SICAVs managed in Spain, specifically 1,638.

Below is a list of these entities.

Santander Gestión + Banif Gestión	582
BBVA Patrimonio	327
Arcalia Inversión	177
UBS Gestión	141
Gesbeta	136
Credit Suisse Gestión	106
Gesmadrid	35
Gaesco Gestión	33
Credit Agricole A.M.	28
EDM Gestión	20
Altegui	17
Riva y García Gestión	12
NordKapp	9
NMAS1 Gestión	8
Ahorro Corporación Gestión	5
Ges-Layetana	1
Aguilar y de la Fuente	1
Total:	1,638 (as at 31/12/05)

 

Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) has promoted the development of MAB to meet the demands of certain shares which, due to their specific features, require special treatment. The market will help SICAVS in the obligation established by the new collective investment regulations to guarantee liquidity for the shares.

Trading on MAB’s securities will be carried out on the SIBE platform, in contrast with the current outcry model, thus adding more dynamism, transparency and liquidity to the market’s participants.

The whole range of services offered by MAB resolves in large part the administrative and legal complexities involved by the new regulation for these companies. The cost of this service for SICAVS is thus 50% lower than that incurred in the current floor trading model.

MAB will be extended in future to securities other than SICAVS, which, due to their particular features, require specific treatment too. They are low capitalisation companies whose shares are generally affected by low liquidity problems and low visibility among the investing public, which until now have not considered going public due to the listing requirements and the costs associated.