Published: February 6, 2012
Bank joins Russian Direct Investment Fund investing in new Moscow exchange.
Russia’s newly merged Micex-RTS stock exchange has attracted investment from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).
The EBRD has agreed to buy 6.29% of the exchange, while the RDIF will buy a 1.25% stake. The new exchange, and the investments from the EBRD and RDIF, will support Russia’s goal of transforming Moscow into an international financial hub.
The deal is the first time the EBRD has invested in a trading exchange in one of its 29 countries of operation.
“The turmoil in the world economy gives added urgency to the need to strengthen and deepen Russia’s capital markets so that they can provide the liquidity which the domestic economy needs to access and the creation of a unified exchange represents an important milestone in that process,” said the EBRD’s Varel Freeman in a statement.
“Through this investment, the EBRD hopes to contribute to increasing the attractiveness of MICEX-RTS so that it becomes the preferred exchange for Russian issuers and traders, as well as investors with an appetite for Russian stocks and other financial instruments,” Freeman added.