Even with record results across the board in 2004, with inflows totalling more than EUR 4bn, Wiener Boerse’s proportion of initial public offerings (IPOs) was lower than anticipated, causing the firm to look at alternative strategies for IPOs in 2005.
Wiener Boerse’s activities in 2005 will focus mainly on continued improvement of the IPO climate, particularly in terms of creating appropriate legal and tax conditions, such as abolishing the 1% company tax, applying the same tax treatment to debt and equity, offering a rebate on inheritance tax when a company is transferred from one generation to the next if the company goes public and amending the Take-over Act, according to Thomas Rosmanitz of BA-CA.
Wiener Boerse also believes that the current political debate on economic issues will boost the IPO market. In this connection, the exchange welcomes OeIAG’s (the Austrian State Holding Corporation’s) proposal to privatise parts of Oesterreichische Post AG via the stock market.
The exchange’s second focus in 2005 will be building on its co-operation with stock exchanges in Central Europe. Wiener Boerse laid the foundation for a Central European stock exchange group by purchasing a stake in the Budapest Stock Exchange last May.