Tallinn bourse shops for IPOs

The Tallinn bourse has begun to actively lobby Estonia's largest corporations to list on the stock exchange, the business newspaper Aripaev reported March 11.

So far its efforts have received a lukewarm response.

"We are trying to change businessmen's opinions of the stock market," said Gert Tiivas of HEX Tallinn, the bourse's new name after it merged last month with the Helsinki Stock Exchange.

Tiivas said the most attractive candidates were large infrastructure companies like Eesti Energia and the Port of Tallinn.

"In terms of listing, Eesti Energia is a sound business and the most attractive company in the Baltic market," said Tiivas.

His optimism is backed by Eesti Energia's Chairman Gunnar Okk, who said an Eesti Energia initial public offering (IPO) is a natural step and has the backing of the company's management.

But it might not be that easy. Heido Vistur, the state representative on Eesti Energia's supervisory board, said the company was unlikely to be privatized for at least five years.

But Eesti Energia is not the only company the bourse is courting.

Jukka Ruuska, the chairman of HEX, said there were several interesting companies in Estonia that could be listed, especially in the IT sector.

The other companies HEX Tallinn is currently lobbying are Krenholm, MicroLink, E-Geen and Hansatee. Veikko Maripuu, head analyst at the investment bank Suprema, said 2002 would likely be modest in terms of IPOs. But he added that it only took a couple of high-profile companies to kickstart a listing spree. "After the first new companies have listed we could see the floodgates open as they did in 1996 and 1997," he said.

The Tallinn exchange currently has 16 share listings. Its last IPO was Eesti Telekom in 2000.