Iraq Stock Exchange Seeks Broader Investor, Add Liquidity

The Iraqi bourse is asking local companies to list shares and depositary receipts in London andNew York to attract investors and increase volumes, the bourse’s chief executive officer said.

“We are encouraging our companies” to list on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) or the Nasdaq Stock Market “to allow shareholders to turn some of their shares into global depositary receipts or American depositary receipts,” CEO Taha Ahmed Abdul Salam al-Rubaye said in Baghdad yesterday. Exchange officials held meetings with Bank of New York Mellon regarding ADRs, he said.

The Iraq Stock Exchange (BBOB) General Index has tumbled 21 percent since reaching the highest in at least two years on Oct. 4. It was little changed today at 116.20. There are 86 listed companies on the exchange, from industries including banking, agriculture, tourism and insurance. Financial companies made up 70 percent of the bourse’s $4 billion market value at the end of 2011, al-Rubaye said.

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