The shares of the Bucharest Stock Exchange are included from September 19 in the FTSE Russell indices dedicated to Emerging Markets

Bucharest Stock Exchange Posted

The shares of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), a company listed in 2010 on its own regulated spot market in the Premium category, will be included, from September 19, in the FTSE Russell indices dedicated to Emerging Markets. The BVB shares will be part of the FTSE Global Micro Cap, with the inclusion announced by the global index provider following its quarterly review published on August 19.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange will be the seventh Romanian company present in the FTSE Global Micro Cap indices, alongside Aquila, Bittnet Systems, Conpet, Purcari Wineries, Sphera Franchise Group, and Transport Trade Services. In total, starting from September 19, Romania will have 13 companies included in the FTSE Russell indices dedicated to Emerging Markets, seven issuers in the FTSE Global Micro Cap indices and six issuers in the FTSE Global All Cap indices.

“The inclusion of Bucharest Stock Exchange shares in the FTSE Global Micro Cap indices confirms our continuous and sustained actions in recent years to increase liquidity. At the same time, we receive an international reconfirmation regarding the potential of the capital market in Romania. The Bucharest Stock Exchange joins the other 12 companies already included in the indices of the global index provider FTSE Russell and thus increases the representativeness of Romania in these indices and, above all, diversifies the fields of activity of the Romanian listed companies taken into account in the FTSE Russell indices dedicated to emerging markets”, said Radu Hanga, President of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

“The inclusion of our company’s shares in the FTSE Russell indices is proof of the sustained effort to reach new benchmarks at the Bucharest Stock Exchange. We are the thirteenth Romanian company included in the FTSE Russell indices, and this reconfirms the fact that we have become an attractive market for global institutional investors. Our projects to support the improvement of market liquidity carry on, for example the Central Counterparties (CCP) project, the program intended for the Issuer’s Market Maker, the continuous increase in the number of companies covered by analysis reports within the BVB Research Hub project, the promotion of these companies among investors, the implementation of ESG standards and we are convinced that more results will come to fruition”, said Adrian Tanase, General Manager of the Bucharest Stock Exchange.

The announcement published on Friday evening, August 19, by the global provider of FTSE Russell indices also brings news for other Romanian companies included in the FTSE Russell indices dedicated to emerging markets, as follows: Bittnet Systems (BNET) shares will be re-included in the FTSE Micro Cap indices from September 19, Impact Developer & Contractor (IMP) shares will be excluded from the FTSE Global Micro Cap indices, the company’s total market capitalization being above the maximum threshold of the FTSE Micro Cap index, MedLife Romania (M) and One United Properties (ONE) shares will move from the Small Cap to Mid Cap category, the shares of the companies Banca Transilvania (TLV), OMV Petrom (SNP) and Nuclearelectrica (SNN) will move from the Mid Cap to Large Cap category.

The Bucharest Stock Exchange is the only securities market operator in Romania. The company has been listed on its own market since 2010 and is part of the BVB Group, which also includes the Central Depository, the institution responsible for registry and settlement operations in Romania, and in October 2019 the central counterparty CCP.RO came into existence, an institution that will take over the function for clearing transactions with securities in Romania and will contribute to the relaunch of the derivatives market on the local stock exchange.

BVB shares are included in BET, the main index of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, BET-TR, the index that also includes the dividends granted by the companies in BET, and BET-XT, BET-BK, BETPlus, BET-XT-TR, BET-TRN, BET-XT-TRN. At the end of the trading session from August 19, the Bucharest Stock Exchange issuer had a capitalization of RON 207 bn (EUR 41 bn).

The Bucharest Stock Exchange managed two distinct markets, the Regulated Market and the Multilateral Trading System, where a variety of financial instruments such as shares, bonds, fund units, certificates, structured products, pre-emptive rights are listed. On the Regulated Market, there listed shares from 83 companies from various sectors of activity and of particular importance for the Romanian economy, with a capitalization of RON 192 bn. Thus, there is a very good representation of the financial sector (35%), energy (30%), utilities (16%), health (5%), construction (4%), etc. On the AeRO market, the equity segment of the Multilateral Trading System, the shares of over 290 companies are listed, with a capitalization of RON 15 bn. In the first half this year, 28 stocks and bonds were listed, including 10 stocks and 18 bonds, with a total value of EUR 1.16 bn.

In terms of special projects, alongside the Central Counterparty (CCP) project, the Bucharest Stock Exchange is running the Made in Romania program, whose purpose is to find the future engines of the Romanian economy, and the BVB Research Hub project launched in May 2021, which aims to improve analysis report coverage for local issuers and to increase access to fundamental analysis for local investors. Also, the Bucharest Stock Exchange continues the ESG project initiated in 2020, by collaborating with Sustainalytics, one of the global leaders in this segment, and the first ESG scores were published this year for some of the listed companies. Also this year, the first ESG Reporting Guide was launched with the support of the EBRD and the sustainability consultancy firm Steward Redqueen.

On December 1, 2022, the Bucharest Stock Exchange will celebrate 140 years since the official opening of the stock exchange, on December 1, 1882, after previously for over 70 years only trade exchanges operated in Romania.