AFP
Nordic and Baltic market operator OMX is buying the Armenian stock exchange, the government in Yerevan said Wednesday.Full ownership of the exchange, known as Armex, will pass to OMX on January 3, the Armenian government said in a statement. The terms of the deal, which will also transfer ownership of the Central Depository of Armenia to OMX, were not disclosed.
OMX operates exchanges in Copenhagen, Stockholm, Helsinki, Reykjavik, Riga, Tallinn and Vilnius.
Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian welcomed the move as a sign of foreign confidence in the Armenian economy, which grew by 13.3 percent in the first 10 months of this year. "The government of Armenia considers the development of the capital market as an important factor in the further development of the national economy," Sarkisian said in the statement.
OMX chief executive Magnus Boecker was quoted in the statement as saying that "Armenia's rapid economic growth gives us confidence in the potential for long-term development of the Armenian market."
The Swedish financial market regulator earlier this month gave the green light for Emirates-based Borse Dubai to bid for OMX. Borse Dubai's proposed cash offer of 265 kronor per share, made jointly with the US high-tech exchange Nasdaq, values OMX at some 32 billion kronor ($4.9 billion).