Top global exchanges woo Indian firms

Leading global bourses are wooing Indian companies to list on their platforms. Top officials of stock exchanges NYSE, Euronext, SIX Swiss Exchange were in Mumbai today to encourage companies to list with them.

They were speaking at a session organised by Ernst & Young.

The slowdown in the financial markets has taken a toll on the trading volumes of exchanges globally, forcing those to seek newer markets for business.

Marco Estermann, head, issuer relations of SIX Swiss Exchange, said: “Investors feel good about companies going for global listing.” While other exchanges have been offering listing opportunities to Indian companies for sometime now, the Swiss exchange is a new entrant.

According to Martin Steinbach, EMEIA (Europe, Middle East, India & Africa) head, IPO & listing services at Ernst & Young, companies that want to take their business international are opting for global listing.

“Telling a story (of a company and its plans) is important,” said Lawrence Leibowitz, COO of NYSE Euronext. According to him, corporate governance structure should be the top priority for companies that wants to list on the American exchange.

Corporate governance structure may become the key criteria for investors when they choose to invest in Indian companies in the back drop of several scams involving many corporate houses in the country.

According to London Stock Exchange’s Richard Webster-Smith, investors will get attracted to any good quality story from India. Corporate houses like Vedanta are listed on the LSE, which also runs a successful Alternative Investment Market for small and medium enterprises, where several Indian firms are listed.

Lawrence Wong, head, listings at Singapore Stock Exchange said that companies should be factual about their disclosures and explain to investors as to how it will affect them.

Recently, the Anil Ambani group’s Flag Telecom, which was planning to list on SGX, had to postpone its IPO as investors did not show much enthusiasm. The Ambani group companies have been facing a lot of corporate governance issues in India.