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Canadian Venture Exchange set to open
VANCOUVER (CP) - After eight intense months of preparation
involving hundreds of people from the country's investment
community, the new Canadian Venture Exchange is scheduled
to begin trading Monday with a minimum of hoopla.
William Hess, the exchange's first president and chief executive,
is to play host to a kickoff breakfast in Calgary.
A similar function will be held in Vancouver with Dennis
Burdett, the proposed chairman of the new organization, as the
star attraction.
Otherwise, it will be right down to business, with no ribbon
cuttings, celebratory toasts or even a sentimental
commemoration of the first trade.
At least, everybody involved has their fingers crossed that it
will be right down to business.
''Anything can come between what we hope will happen and
what will actually happen,'' said Chris Lay, co-chairman of the
steering committee that has overseen the merger of the
Vancouver and Alberta stock exchanges.
''I've learned never to say never in this business. However, a
lot of work has gone into this, so we're pretty confident that the
transition will be smooth.''
The exchange, part of a restructuring of Canada's equities
markets that was announced in March, will be the main market
for small-capitalization stocks.
The idea is to create a single, efficient national junior market
instead of having several fragmented regional markets.
Exchange officials concede they originally wanted to call the
new organization the Canadian Exchange to reflect that national
vision - from which is derived the symbol CDNX.
The Toronto Stock Exchange, the country's largest equities
market, took exception, so ASE and VSE officials came up with
the Canadian Venture Exchange. But they kept the CDNX
symbol.
Calgary is home to the new exchange's corporate office,
responsible for corporate finance, strategic planning, regional
service operations, and certain executive and administrative
functions.
The Vancouver office will focus on operations, controlling
trading services, surveillance, compliance and marketing.
When trading starts Monday, about 2,200 companies will be
listed. That includes 1,200 Vancouver exchange alumni and
1,000 from the Alberta exchange, said Denise Hendrickson, who
was manager of corporate finance policy for the ASE and will
now fill the same post in CDNX's Calgary office.
Canadian Venture will later join forces with the Canadian
Dealing Network. Once that happens, probably next spring, the
roster of listings will increase to 2,500.
About 400 of the initial 2,200 listings will be what the CDNX is
classifying as Tier 1 companies, which will have minimum
listing requirements comparable to those in effect on the TSE
until last November.
Tier 1 is considered the new exchange's premier level and is
reserved for the most advanced issuers. Companies in this
category will benefit from fewer filing requirements and
improved service standards.
The majority of CDNX issuers, however, will be Tier 2
companies and will be subject to a composite of the listing
requirements demanded of VSE and ASE venture companies.
A third tier will be introduced later, consisting primarily of
existing Canadian Dealing Network quotations. |
