Sofia stock exchange says its priority is upgrading, not sale
SOFIA (Reuters) – The Bulgaria stock exchange said yesterday its priority was to upgrade its trading platform rather than seek a strategic investor to buy the government’s stake in the bourse. The government has said it plans to sell its controlling 44 percent stake in the exchange by the end of the year to help it boost its low liquidity and survive rising competition of consolidating markets. But the chairman of the exchange, Victor Papazov, told a conference the main goal now was to acquire a modern trading platform and not the privatization of the bourse. «We decided that we should change our approach a little. It is important to have a good trading system… and only after that to look for a foreign strategic partner,» Papazov said. «It remains to be seen what the government will decide.» He said the exchange’s financial performance had improved substantially in the past two years and it could now afford to buy a new trading system. Deutsche Boerse and the Nordic and Baltic bourse operator OMX have already approached the Sofia exchange to provide it with a new trading platform, Papazov told reporters on the sidelines of the conference. The government has not officially changed its position on the sale of the bourse so far. Finance Minister Plamen Oresharski said in August that the government was still awaiting a clear strategy from the exchange whether its development required a strategic investor or could be better guaranteed by striking cooperation partnerships. The Sofia exchange’s total market capitalization doubled in a year to over -13 billion by September due to increased investor interest after Bulgaria joined the European Union. But trade volumes remain low and initial public offerings are rare. The planned sale of the Bulgarian bourse has already attracted the interest of the exchanges in Frankfurt, Vienna, Athens, Nicosia, Milan, Stockholm, Prague and Warsaw.
