New stock market rules from Nov. 28
The management of Hellenic Exchanges yesterday presented the new Athens Stock Exchange (ASE) regulations, which make radical changes to the categories of listed stocks and introduce new listing criteria. The aim, said Hellenic Exchanges President Spyros Kapralos, is to make the ASE more attractive to investors. The new regulations, taking effect on November 28, abolish the old main, parallel and new markets and reclassify listings by capitalization, stock spread and share price. The «large-capitalization» category, which is expected to attract most institutional investors, comprises 88 companies, a total of 92 common and preferred stocks, which account for about a quarter of the current listings. These companies all have a capitalization exceeding 100 million euros and a spread in excess of 20 percent. The «medium and small capitalization» category includes firms with lower capitalization, a spread in excess of 10 percent and a share price of over 30 cents. The remaining category, of «special stock market features» includes what are essentially firms in dire straits, with one or more of the following conditions applying: a price of less than 30 cents, share spread less than 10 percent, marketability lower than 5 percent annually, losses exceeding 50 percent of assets, assets less than 50 percent of equity capital and negative earnings before interest, taxes and asset amortization.
