Wiener Börse Markets Companies At Investor Roadshow In Tokyo

Wiener Börse will hold its first international roadshow in Tokyo on Monday 19th February in conjunction with Nomura International plc, at which seven leading Austrian companies will meet more than 30 institutional investors in Tokyo. A total of 43 one-on-one meetings and small group presentations have also been arranged. This is the first time the exchange will have proactively marketed their companies on an investor roadshow in the Japanese market.

International interest has grown significantly in Austrian blue chip companies in recent years and is continuing to do so with great success. Today U.S. investors account for a share of around 30% of the Austrian companies followed by UK investors in second place with 25.2% and Germany in third place with 14%. The internationalisation of Wiener Börse is progressing at a very fast pace. A number of 34 of the 74 direct trading members are foreign investment banks. They also account for more than half of trading volume with 56%. Just seven years ago, there was practically no international trading on Wiener Börse at less than half a percentage.

“We are delighted at the international interest in the Austrian market and hope to see this success reflected in Tokyo. Customers can only appreciate Vienna as a highly developed capital market and view us as the bridge to the East. Wiener Börse offers companies ideal access to investors with a focus on Eastern Europe and many international players have already taken steps towards this” commented Michael Buhl, Joint CEO of Wiener Börse.

This increased interest has also been heightened by the Wiener Börse’s significant recent annual performance in 2006 where IPO activity and capital increases raised EUR 11.87bn, thus breaking a new record in the inflow of fresh capital. Market capitalization climbed last year by 36% to an all-time high of EUR 145.8bn. Wiener Börse has also announced plans to strengthen its IPO campaign for 2007 where foreign companies with a strong focus on Eastern Europe and domestic SMEs will be targeted to take their companies public and thus add to the quality of listed companies on Wiener Börse.

The roadshows are organized to mobilise international institutional investors. Indeed, new figures from Wiener Börse roadshows over the last three years highlight the phenomenal international interest and growth the exchange has witnessed. In the last three years alone the exchange has seen a 300% increased interest from investors in London, Edinburgh, Frankfurt and New York with over 600 meetings held in 2006 alone compared to 108 just three years earlier in 2003. The total number of annual roadshows also rose from three in 2003 to 7 last year.

The Tokyo roadshow has been organised jointly with the Nomura Group, which has a long-standing presence in the Austrian capital markets whilst also being Japan’s largest securities house. Nomura has a considerable track record in taking European companies to Tokyo and bringing Japanese companies to Europe. The Group’s position in Japan enables it to offer European companies unrivalled access to Japanese investors.

The companies taking part in the Tokyo roadshow include: Andritz AG, Immoeast AG / Immofinanz Immobilien Analgen AG, Meinl European Land Ltd., Osterreichische Post AG, Raiffeisen International AG, RHI AG and Telekom Austria AG.