ALSE hails gov’t plans to float OSHEE on the stock market

Albanian Securities Exchange has welcomed the Initiative of the Albanian government to float state-owned electricity distributor OSHEE on the stock market this year.

In an interview for TV Scan, ALSE CEO Artan Gjergji says that in all the countries of the region, the privatization of public companies has been partly done in stock exchanges, which has helped in activating trade capital.

Albania is the only country that has not done this until now.

OSHEE, a state monopoly, is currently being split into three companies: distribution, retail and commercial operations, in line with European Union directives, officials said.

If floating goes ahead, it will be the first public offering of shares in a major state-owned company in Albania, but PM Rama has not specified how many shares would be sold or which part of the company would be listed.

The Albanian Securities Exchange is operational since more than a month, while initially it is trading Albanian government securities.

According to Gjergji, the trading volumes are satisfactory so far, considering that the securities exchange is considered an absolute novelty for Albania and its financial market.

So far, four trading brokers are involved in the Albanian Securities Exchange, which are all commercial banks.

Although the number of transactions is still limited, the volumes of trading bonds and treasury bills on the stock exchange have reached millions of euros in just a single month.

Scan Tv,  29.03.2018