FTSE Mondo Visione Exchanges Index:
NEWEX® (New Europe Exchange): The Quality Market For Central And East European Securities - New Exchange To Be Launched In Autumn - Efficient Trading And Financing Platform In The Euro Zone - Same Degree Of Transparency And Liquidity As On Neuer Markt
Date 03/02/2000
"NEWEX will become a significant, liquid and transparent quality market for Central and East European securities." This statement was made by NEWEX Management Board member Erich Obersteiner on Thursday, 3 February 2000 at a press conference held in Frankfurt to present the new exchange that Deutsche Börse and Wiener Börse are in the process of jointly establishing. The market is planned to go live in autumn 2000, the acquisition of new market participants and issuers is about to start. The new exchange will operate on the trading platform of Deutsche Börse, Xetra®, which is also in use at Wiener Börse and provides an excellent infrastructure. Settlement will be handled by Clearstream, a joint subsidiary of Deutsche Börse and Cedel International.
Both Deutsche Börse and Wiener Börse stress their common interest in setting up an efficient trading and financing platform within the euro zone for issuers from Central and Eastern Europe. Both parent companies of NEWEX are contributing their expertise and know-how to establish the new exchange. Michael Radtke of Deutsche Börse completes the Management Board of NEWEX. The expert for Eastern Europe and former Minister of Finance of Austria, Ferdinand Lacina, is Chairman of the Supervisory Board. Xetra and Clearstream are well-established systems and the market concept has proven its success in the development of other markets.
NEWEX will be an exchange set up under Austrian law with its registered office in Vienna. Similar to the procedure in place at Neuer Markt, which is run by Deutsche Börse, admission to trading will be based on criteria enforceable under public law and supplemented by obligations imposed on the listed companies within the framework of private law contracts with the exchange operating company. This is how NEWEX will ensure the required transparency and liquidity of the market, as well as the protection of investors. Companies admitted to the Official Market or to the Semi-Official Market according to the admission criteria set out in the Stock Exchange Act may be traded in quality segment 1; companies included in the Unregulated Market may be traded in quality segment 2.
All issuers of stocks listed on the quality segments commit themselves to improve market transparency by preparing their annual accounts according to international accounting standards, releasing quarterly reports and immediately disclosing price-sensitive information. Furthermore, the listed companies will be obliged to keep a calendar of corporate events and hold regular meetings with analysts. A nine-month ban on the sale of shares held by former shareholders (in the quality segment 2: six months), as well as a minimum free float are measures designed to protect the interests of investors. To guarantee liquidity, all listed companies will be obliged to ensure that at least 20 million euro are available for trading (in the quality segment 2: EUR 10 million) and to have a liquidity provider for their stocks.
NEWEX will also cooperate with partners who provide consulting services to potential issuers and companies. Independent services providers specialized in the fields of going public and with clear links to Central and Eastern Europe will act as advisors: IPO and management consultants, credit institutions, securities trading firms, investor relations and public relations agencies, as well as lawyers, auditors and tax advisors.
In the starting phase, NEWEX will target potential issuers from Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Russia. According to Mr. Obersteiner, investors will initially come mainly from Western Europe and will include both institutional and private investors. He sees potential trading participants in Xetra members that are active in Central and Eastern Europe. He believes that these will come mainly from Germany and Austria.