Poland’s GPW to acquire Armenia’s stock exchange
GPW will become the majority shareholder of AMX with a block of 967 shares, representing a 65.03% stake in the company’s share capital. CBoA will hold 372 shares representing a 25.02% stake in the company’s share capital. The remaining 9.95% i.e. 148 shares are AMX’s treasury shares.
The CEOs of the Warsaw Stock Exchange (GPW) and the Armenia Securities Exchange (AMX) have signed a memorandum that will see GPW acquiring a 65.03% stake in AMX from the Central Bank of Armenia (CBoA).
The signing of the memorandum took place on 24 May 2022, during the World Economic Forum in Davos, between GPW chief executive Marek Dietl and AMX chief executive.
The Share Purchase Agreement set out the terms of GPW’s acquisition of a majority stake representing 65.03% of shares in AMX. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBoA) currently holds 90.05% of the share capital of the Yerevan-based stock exchange.
“Armenia plays an extremely important role in the midst of capital flows in the region”
GPW will become the majority shareholder of AMX with a block of 967 shares, representing a 65.03% stake in the company’s share capital. CBoA will hold 372 shares representing a 25.02% stake in the company’s share capital. The remaining 9.95% i.e. 148 shares are AMX’s treasury shares.
As a result of the transaction, GPW will indirectly take control of the Central Securities Depository of Armenia (CDA), where AMX currently holds 100% of the share capital.
Negotiations first took place on 18 September 2020 after an agreement between the GPW Management Board and the Central Bank of Armenia (CBoA). Nearly two years later, both boards approved the acquisition of a 65.03% stake in the Armenia Securities Exchange.
Marek Dietl, President of the Management Board of GPW, said: “We are not only taking over 65 percent of the shares but above all we are taking responsibility for the Armenian capital market. Our main goal is to transfer the experience of the 30 years of the Polish capital market to Armenia and, more broadly, to the South Caucasus as Armenia plays an extremely important role in the midst of capital flows in the region: for example, the seat of the Federation of Euro-Asian Stock Exchanges is in Yerevan.”
Andrzej Duda, President of the Republic of Poland, commented: “I am very happy that the agreement has been signed and the cooperation will now unfold. These are the first tangible effects of what is happening here in Davos and the way that Poland is promoted here.”
