October 20 (SeeNews) - The Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) said it holds a 7.06% stake in its counterpart in North Macedonia, the Macedonian Stock Exchange (MSE), after it acquired on Tuesday a further 49 ordinary shares, representing 1.76% of its equity capital.
The transaction was financed with own funds, the Zagreb bourse said in a statement late on Tuesday. It did not name the seller.
Before the transaction, the Zagreb bourse held 148 shares, or 5.30% of the capital of MSE.
In March, the ZSE received the green light from North Macedonia's securities and exchange commission for its plan to grow its stake in the MSE to 15.19% from 5.3% by buying 276 shares, representing 9.89% interest in the Skopje bourse.
On June 22, North Macedonia's securities and exchange commission gave its approval for an increase of ZSE's stake in the MSE above the 10% ownership threshold but below 20% of all issued shares with voting rights, the Zagreb bourse said in a statement. Since the initial approval, granted on March 16, was issued for a term of 90 days, the new decision prolongs that period by a further 90 days. However, obviously no transactions took place back then.
The Zagreb bourse acquired the Slovenia's Ljubljana Stock Exchange in 2015.