March 28 (SeeNews) - The Belgrade Stock Exchange targets to attract three initial public offerings (IPOs) in the next 12 months with the support of its IPO Go! programme launched on Tuesday, CEO Sinisa Krneta said.
The programme is aimed at increasing the awareness and demand for investment capital and the supply of securities on the bourse, which will be carried out in the next 14 months, Krneta said in a video file posted on the website of news agency Tanjug on Tuesday.
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The listing support project is funded by the Shareholder Special Fund (SSF) of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Belgrade Stock Exchange itself, Krneta said.
As part of the project, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), through its offices in Belgrade and Warsaw, will support the Belgrade Stock Exchange in the relations and communication with selected private companies, he noted.
The IPO Go! programme creates a new channel for investments and capital raising, which will facilitate the inflow of foreign direct investment into Serbia and will quicken the sustainable growth of the gross domestic product, Krneta said. "With this project, we believe we can give a strong impetus to the financing of the country's private sector."
Last year, the EBRD said the Belgrade Stock Exchange requested the lender to provide technical assistance for the design and implementation of the IPO Go! programme for companies in Serbia. The IPO Go! Programme will focus on those companies that have the best potential to use the Belgrade Stock Exchange for raising equity capital. The objective is to increase the supply of securities and investment opportunities on the bourse, the EBRD said back then.
The last IPO on the Belgrade Stock Exchange was carried out in 1940. Set up in 1893, the Belgrade stock market ceased to exist in 1953, when it was formally abolished by the Yugoslav government. The 32 biggest banks of the former Yugoslavia re-established the bourse in 1989. In 2000, the stock market started the secondary trading of shares in privatised companies.