| Neuer Markt index, price floor |
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| Source: Deutsche Börse |
The Nuovo Mercato is "a new market for small and medium-size companies [that] can help to develop a real market culture in our country." Thus Massimo Capuano, chief executive officer of Borsa Italiana - the company that runs the Italian stock exchange, introducing Italy's new equity market. The Nuovo Mercato - literally the New Market - will be the Italian equivalent of Germany's Neuer Markt and France's Nouveau Marché: a stock market especially designed to give high-growth companies access to funding.
Net assets of L2.5 billion ($1.4 million), a free float of at least 20% and the ability to grow fast will be the main listing requirements. Biotechnology, hi-tech and telecommunications companies are the most likely candidates for this high-growth exchange. But Capuano intends to leave the door open to other types of company. "If a company from a traditional industry sector has innovative projects and is able to keep pace with growing companies, we will welcome it into this market," he says.
The official presentation of the Nuovo Mercato will be held in Milan on May 5, but the first trading is not expected until the beginning of July.