Moldova's largest bank, maib, is one step closer to achieving its strategic goal - to be listed at the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Like Purcari Wineries, the first Moldovan company listed in Bucharest, maib wants to occupy a place in the top ten listed companies. Investors compare these plans with a capital bridge that maib will build between Moldova and Romania.

 In Moldova, few company owners think about international stock exchanges as a tool for attracting investments to develop and modernize their businesses and the country as a whole.

Foreign investors who purchased maib's shares in 2018 are among the few who do so. In the past several years, they have been working hard to list maib at an international stock exchange and they are now very close to achieving their goal.

As part of a detailed plan to familiarize foreign investors with the bank, its board organised the Moldova - Romania: Capital Bridges forum in Bucharest on September 13.

Moldovan and Romanian Prime Ministers Natalia Gavrilita and Nicolae Ciuca, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister for Digitization Iurie Turcanu and the chairman of the Moldovan parliamentary commission for budget and finance, MP Dumitru Alaiba, were among the guests in attendance.

Representatives of international financial companies and banks, the management of the Bucharest Stock Exchange and potential investors interested in developments in Moldova also participated in the forum and its discussion panels.

In his opening speech, maib's CEO Giorgi Shagidze spoke about the bank's main development objectives, one of which is to list maib's shares at the Bucharest Stock Exchange when shareholders decide to do so.

Addressing the forum, the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Odile Renaud-Basso, said that Moldova and its banking sector were doing very well despite all the problems caused by the Russian war against neighbouring Ukraine. The banker described the business environment in Moldova as "promising" and "very brave" and cited as an example maib's plans to be listed at the stock exchange. She expressed hope that other Moldovan companies will follow maib's example.  

EU ambassador to Moldova Janis Mazeiks said that investing in Moldova meant investing in a future EU member state. He stressed that the EU candidate status that Moldova was granted in June was an additional incentive to invest in the country's economy because future EU membership "means working in a transparent and predictable climate with European standards and access to European markets".

The diplomat said that maib's preparation for the IPO was a "historic event" which few could imagine a year ago.

"The EU candidate status means hard work but also good reward. In terms of European reforms, the Moldovan authorities started working on them before getting the candidate status, but there is still much work to do...  The EU membership will give Moldova additional opportunities that are not available to the partner or candidate countries," the ambassador said.

The president of the board of directors of the Bucharest Stock Exchange, Radu Hanga, welcomed maib's decision to choose the Bucharest Stock Exchange for listening and congratulated its CEO Giorgi Shagidze. He said that the Bucharest Stock Exchange and maib would start building a "financial bridge" between the two states, harmonising regulations and legislation to this end.  

"We already have the successful example of Purcari Wineries, the first Moldovan company listed at the Bucharest Stock exchange since 2018," Hanga said and expressed satisfaction that maib views the stock exchange not only as a tool for placing securities, but also for developing the bank and attracting investments into the Moldovan economy.

Here it is important to stress the benefits of being listed at an international stock exchange not just for maib's major but also its 3,000 minor stakeholders.

Today maib shares are listed at the Moldovan Stock Exchange but this exchange lacks liquidity. Despite the attractive price of 4,300-4,500 lei ($220-$230) per share, minor shareholders find it difficult to sell just a few dozens or hundreds of them.

The listening at the Bucharest Stock Exchange will give them the possibility to sell their shares in any number, at any time and at the market price.

Maib CEO Giorgi Shagidze, who has 10 years of experience at the helm of Georgia's TBC Bank (the bank successfully launched its IPO at the London Stock Exchange in 2014), draws attention to the fact that listing at an international stock exchange would show the real price of shares.

"Listing maib's shares at the Bucharest Stock Exchange would have a positive impact on Moldova's business climate. Maib could become a flagship for integrating other Moldovan companies into international financial markets as investors will be ready to channel funds to other Moldovan companies," Shagidze explains.

Asked about the price of maib securities at the Bucharest Stock Exchange, the CEO says, citing  the experience of TBC Bank at the London Stock Exchange, that it would become known when investors subscribe to them.

"The price of listed shares depends on many factors, but the main ones are the country's rating and the financial condition of the issuer. The latter should promote the best practices of corporate governance, have financial discipline and maximum transparency," Shagidze says.

He adds that the IPO is not just about price but also about the opportunity to buy and sell shares at any time.■

From Profit's archives: Purcari Wineries listed its shares at the Bucharest Stock Exchange in 2018 with the help of its foreign shareholder Horizon Capital (which is also a maib shareholder). Since then, the price of Purcari shares has gone up 50%. The daily deals with Purcari shares reach $250,000.

Purcari Wineries is now seen as a leading company in Central and Eastern Europe.

Horizon Capital has recovered its investment in Purcari Wineries with a capital multiplier of 3.33. Later, Purcari Wineries' founder Victor Bostan asked Horizon Capital to invest in his company once again, which it did, helping the Moldovan company to develop, modernize and compete successfully on international markets.