Ukraine's IPO partner

The Warsaw Stock Exchange has launched cooperation with Ukrainian firm Millennium Capital (MC), a financial service provider. This is the latest foreign company that has signed such an agreement as a part of the bourse's IPO Partner program launched last autumn. Within the program, the WSE cooperates with foreign brokerage houses and investment funds which then promote the Polish bourse in the CEE region and encourage foreign companies to hold their IPOs on the Warsaw exchange.

The Kiev-based firm offers services including assistance in mergers, takeovers, IPOs, as well as private banking and brokerage. MC is the fourth Ukrainian company cooperating with the WSE, along with E-Volution Capital, Altera Finance and Sokrat Capital. Other WSE partners include Czech-based Wood & Company as well as Estonian Suprema Securities and Hansabank.

The WSE is currently in negotiations with companies which could potentially debut on the bourse under the program. "It is too early to measure the program's effectiveness at the moment," WSE president, Ludwik Sobolewski, told WBJ. He added that although the level of satisfaction with cooperation with particular companies varies, the rate of general progress of the program is good. Sobolewski stressed that the number of potential partners is limited, and those under consideration undergo a rigorous selection process.

The main focus of the IPO Partner program is still Ukraine. "This is a big country, a big economy," said Sobolewski, noting that Ukraine is becoming a lucrative target for the bourses of Vienna, London, or Berlin as well.

The program is part of the WSE's growing activity in the region. Sobolewski mentioned a series of recent of promotion meetings in the Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv and Donetsk as well as in Bulgaria.