May 20 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Wednesday it is launching a two-year equity research programme in support of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) listed on the stock exchanges in Bulgaria, Croatia, North. Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia.
The research programme is funded by the TaiwanBusiness-EBRD Technical Cooperation Fund and will be conducted by WOOD & Company, an investment bank specialising in emerging markets, EBRD said in a statement.
The companies which are participants in the programme are: Bulgaria's Gradus, Monbat, Sirma Group Holding, Sopharma; Croatia's AD PLASTIK, Arena Hospitality Group, Ilirija Resort and the Zagreb Stock Exchange; N. Macedonia's Alkaloid, Komercijalna banka and NLB Banka; Romania's BittNet, Conpet, Patria Bank and Teraplast as well as Serbia's Fintel Energija and Slovenia's Pozavarovalnica Sava RE.
The aim of the support programme is to produce free, publicly available, high-quality research reports to overcome information barriers that depress market liquidity, EBRD noted adding that the reports will be publicly available free of charge on the newly created Listed SME Research Hub.
"The lack of information about companies is often the main obstacle to making investment decisions and discovering the region's potential," Ivana Gazic, president of the management board, of Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) was quoted as saying in the statement.
Research coverage will spotlight many valuable SMEs and make them visible to investors, thus creating significant opportunities in their access to finance, Sinisa Krneta, chief executive officer of the Belgrade Stock Exchange (BELEX) said.
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