Bratislava Stock Exchange to be privatised

The government of Slovakia will privatize the Bratislava Stock Exchange next year.

It is the weakest stock exchange out of the four new central European members of the European Union.

It’s average daily trade in 2004 was only €2.25 million, it has never had an initial public offering, and first quarter volumes this year are down 95 percent from the same quarter last year.

Before the sale, the Slovakian finance ministry wants to integrate the central securities depository in with the stock exchange, which will give the government a two-thirds ownership of the exchange.

Then the exchange’s minority stockholders will either be bought out or they will offer their shares for sale along with the government’s shares to be sold during the first half of 2006.

The Vienna stock exchange is already talking to Slovakian officials about purchasing the Bratislava exchange as part of its goal of consolidating the small stock exchanges of central Europe.

In 2004 the Vienna exchange, in consortium with Austrian banks, bought a 68.5 percent share of the stock exchange in Budapest.

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