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The Alternative Equity Market for Growth Companies, or MAB, developed by Bolsas y Mercados Españoles (BME) as a listing forum for securities whose specific features mean they require special handling, received the green light from the CNMV for its operating rules. The MAB put its trading system into place in May 2006, when the first companies joined the SICAV segment, where 3,200 companies now trade, while in June 2007, a new segment for venture capital companies got underway.
For low-capitalisation companies looking to expand, the MAB makes available custom regulation, designed specifically for them, with costs adapted to their characteristics. This new market extends to companies whose shares may suffer from thin liquidity and scant visibility among the investing public and which have not considered trading on the stock exchange due to the costs and requirements involved.
Starting today, the regulatory guidelines for this new market are available on the website www.bolsasymercados.es/mab. In coming weeks, the MAB will step up its contacts to explain the technical and operational aspects of the market to the different agents who will participate in it, particularly Registered Advisors, whose registration with the MAB is a preliminary step to the eventual listing of companies on the market.
With this initiative, BME aims to deepen the presence of the real economy on the stock market, and show its commitment to this type of company. The Spanish economy has posted consistent growth in the past decade, outpacing the European Union average thanks, among other things, to the vigour and growth of its business community.
Small and medium-sized companies account for 65% of Spanish GDP, employ 79% of the workforce and make up 99% of the country’s total businesses. The new segment of the MAB for Growth Companies is a mechanism for enhancing the contribution of many of these companies to economic growth, by helping to provide them with access to capital to develop new business projects.
To join the MAB, companies must have fully paid up capital, free transfer of securities and audited accounts, and the operation must be carried out through a listing (initial public offering, public offering), with a minimum free float of 2 million euros. In addition, each company must designate a Registered Advisor to verify compliance with all of these requirements and review the information presented. Trading in MAB securities will be carried out using the SIBE electronic trading platform.
As outlined in the approval granted by the Spanish Cabinet on 29 December 2005, the MAB for Growth Companies "makes it possible for small and medium-sized companies to access stock market financing, not through the ordinary equity market, which entails a financial and organisational burden that puts it out of the reach of small and medium-sized companies, but rather through a custom trading system, which features more flexible regulation and is better adapted to the needs of these companies. Similar initiatives have been carried out in other EU member states, since this problem is common to all of them.”
