Deal for Bulgaria Stock Exchange Sweetened Up - Head
The decision of Bulgaria's government to pack together its stakes at the stock exchange and the depository has sweetened the deal for the bourse, its executive director argues.
"Such bundling will sweeten the deal and will ensure that the new owner will have the freedom to define its own policy on both trading and post-trading level," Ivan Takev, CEO of the Bulgarian Stock Exchange - Sofia, said in an interview for Novinite.com. Takev voiced confidence that Bulgaria's stock exchange, which launched the sale of its shares in January, will attract a key European investor for its majority stake by the end of the year.
"So far we had some preliminary talks with large stock market operators and their initial interest was encouraging," he said.
Bulgaria's only stock exchange became a public company in the middle of December last year after the Financial Supervision Commission approved its prospectus and the bourse was listed on its own platform. The capital of the bourse is a total of BGN 6 582 860 at BGN 1 apiece.
Bulgaria's Finance Ministry raised at the beginning of October its share to 50% plus one share from 44% in the country's stock exchange. The government bought 715,000 shares at BN 1 apiece. The bourse will sell the remaining 50% held by private investors including brokerages and banks. (Source: Sofia News Agency)