September brought a radical change in the ranking of the RASDAQ brokers, with two of the brokerage firms mainly sought by institutional investors moving up to the top two places.
BRD Securities, the broker of BRD-Groupe Societe Generale, the second largest bank in the system, achieved the largest traded volume on RASDAQ, mainly due to the deal whereby steel maker Mittal Steel took over harbour operator Romportmet Galati. This operation amounted to 37.8 million euros, the largest ever conducted on RASDAQ since its establishment in 1996, and put BRD on the top spot among brokers, with 48.4% of the total transfers.
BRD''s brokers handled the deal both on behalf of the buyer, i.e. the Indians at Mittal Steel and for investment fund Broadhurst that sold the last of its stake in Romportmet. When the actual volume was calculated for these brokers, the deal was registered only once.
Unlike the situation on the Bucharest Stock Exchange, where a transaction is recorded twice in the brokers'' ranking regardless of its type, once for the brokers that handled the sale and once for those that worked for the buyer, the cross transactions, namely those where both the buyer and seller are represented by the same brokerage firm, are only counted once.
Mittal Steel bought 78% in Romportmet in September, coming to own 89% in the harbour operator. The capital market law binds Mittal Steel to put out a tender offer to get the rest of the shares it does not own in Romportmet, at a price at least equal to that paid to Broadhurst.
Market sources said Mittal Steel made the decision to buy Romportmet due the constant tariff rising policy of this harbour operator. Mittal Steel had initially contemplated establishing their own operator to service the steel plant in Galati but the project did not turn out to be feasible.
The significant transaction with Romportmet shares pushed BRD Securities to the top spot in the nine-month ranking, as well, wherein it accounted for 11.2%.
Second top brokers on RASDAQ in September were ING Securities, another brokerage firm working with institutional investors mainly. It was the most active company on the Bucharest Stock Exchange judging by the transactions brokered in the first eight months of the year.
ING brokers handled 7.8 million-euro worth of transactions in September, 10% of the total transactions.
ING Securities has achieved a traded volume worth 18.8 million euros since the beginning of the year, accounting for 5.4% of the market. catalin.ciocan@zf.ro
Pentru alte știri, analize, articole și informații din business în timp real urmărește Ziarul Financiar pe WhatsApp Channels
