NASDAQ OMX Armenia ready assist companies with IPO

YEREVAN, March 11. /ARKA/. NASDAQ OMX Armenia is ready to assist
companies in entering the initial public offering (IPO) market.

`We have great expectations of the first company’s entry of the IPO.
Also, the stock exchange will assist any company, any issuer with this
process,’ said Armen Melikyan, Director General of NASDAQ OMX Armenia.

The Armenbroke Company, underwriter for the Artsakh Hydro OJSC,
announced the maiden initial public offering of the energy-generating
company’s shares to the amount of 3.45bln AMD (over $9.5mln). A total
of 3,285,715 shares (1,050 AMD each) are being placed.

`This is the first experience and we have to render assistance because
it will be the first step for other companies to enter the IPO market,’
Melikyan said.

He stressed the fact that, in the case of shares, it is not dividends,
but free circulation of securities on the stock exchange without any
restrictions, that plays a decisive role. If the information on prices
is available to the public, the market price will be real.

`This means that the cost of shares will be increasing, which is of
importance for market formation,’ Melikyan said. He added that the
Government is interested in the development of capital market, evidence
thereof being the issue of shares of one of the best enterprises.

Melikyan pointed out that, if the company fails to float the entire
issue and attract the necessary funds from the first attempt, further
issues will enable it to do that.

As regards the Nagorno-Karabakh company’s entry to the Armenian stock
market, Melikyan said that stock exchanges are not involved in
politics. `We are only interested in business and contribute to the
development of business environment and capital market,’ Melikyan said.

The representative of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), Issue
Executive Karen Hakobyan pointed out that the CBA and the stock
exchange are implementing joint measures to develop the capital market,
with the most important role assigned to the creation of new attractive
instruments for the Armenian market.

He said that 11 bond issues were floated last year, with no IPO
registers.

The initiative of the Artsakh Hydro Company has no precedents, not only
because this is the first large-scale IPO in Armenia, but also because
an attempt was made to attract as many foreign investors as possible,’
Hakobyan said.

He pointed out that companies’ transparent activities are the only
important condition for their entering the IPO market.

Ad of March 9, over 200 people subscribed to the shares of the Artsakh
Hydro CJSC worth a total of 150mln.

Armenbroke estimates the return on the capital invested in Artsakh
Hydro CJSC shares at 14%, with all the further flows considered. P.T.