German stock exchange group Deutsche Börse has made its final offer of an undisclosed sum for Poland’s Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE).
The Polish Ministry of Treasury is seeking a buyer for WSE and had sought bids from four global exchange groups – Deutsche Börse, the London Stock Exchange, Nasdaq OMX and NYSE Euronext. The London Stock Exchange has reportedly withdrawn from the bidding.
“We are confident that our proposal represents an attractive offer, which will meet the high goals the Minister of Treasury set when he first announced this important privatisation project,” said Dr Jochen Biedermann, senior vice president at Deutsche Börse, in a statement. “In particular, our offer emphasises that Deutsche Börse is strongly committed to supporting the Minister’s goal of strengthening the position of WSE as the pre-eminent financial exchange in central and eastern Europe.”
Deutsche Börse is interested in buying WSE because of its strong standing in the central and eastern European division and its prospects for growth, according to a spokesman for the German exchange.
“The Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest exchange in Eastern Europe and, apart from the Moscow Stock Exchange the one with the most turnover,” the spokesman told theTRADEnews.com. “Also we think that it has potential to be developed further given the fact that we could roll out an integrated exchange concept as we have done for ourselves over the past couple of years.”
This would involve development of both the cash and derivatives markets to facilitate interaction between the two, explained the spokesman.