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Warsaw, Vienna stock exchanges confirm tie-up talks
The two stock exchanges, the biggest in Central and Eastern Europe, are in talks about a possible merger or other form of cooperation
The Warsaw Stock Exchange and the Vienna-based CEE Stock Exchange group are in preliminary talks for a possible merger or other form of cooperation, the CEE Stock Exchange said in a statement.
"In light of recent market information, Warsaw Stock Exchange (WSE) and CEESEG AG (CEESEG) confirm that they have started preliminary discussions with a view to considering potential ways of cooperation strengthening," the statement said.
"At this stage all strategic options and cooperation routes are being reviewed," it added.
The CEE Stock Exchange group includes the stock exchanges of Budapest, Ljubljana, Prague and Vienna and cooperates with 12 other stock markets in Central and Eastern Europe.
In December last year, Michael Buhl, joint CEO of the CEESEG, said in an interview with Euromoney magazine that he was interested in regional partnerships with the Warsaw Stock Exchange.
A source told Euromoney at the time that Buhl met with Ludwik Sobolewski, the CEO of the WSE, on several occasions to discuss the issue of collaboration but was rebuffed.
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Each of the two exchanges claims to be the biggest in Central and Eastern Europe.
While the Vienna stock exchange bought smaller exchanges in CEE to expand, the strategy employed by the Warsaw Stock Exchange has been to attract companies based in emerging markets in the region, like Ukraine, Belarus or Georgia, to list in Warsaw.
In addition to shares and derivative instruments, the WSE is developing a market for issuers of corporate and municipal bonds, as well as for commodities.
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