NASDAQ OMX Baltic Partners to Form the First Institutional

28.05.2009 VLN

Vilnius, May 28, 2009 – NASDAQ OMX’s exchanges in Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius, part of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: NDAQ), announced today the establishment of Emerging Nordic Research. It is the Baltic region’s first independent institutional equity research company founded with the explicit aim of serving institutional investors. The company’s Managing Director Ivars Bergmanis has more than 20 years of global financial market experience. The three Baltic exchanges will own 17 percent each respectively and Ivars Bergmanis will be the single largest shareholder with a 49 percent stake of the company.

“Despite the general availability of research suitable for retail investors, there is clearly a shortage of comprehensive analysis that meets the particular needs of professional, institutional investors,” says Ivars Bergmanis, Managing Director of Emerging Nordic Research. “The Baltics are a part of Northern Europe and have strong ties to the other ‘traditional’ Nordic countries. I believe the Baltic region can ultimately bounce back to robust rates of economic growth as before the financial meltdown.”

Emerging Nordic Research will focus on the leading companies traded on the NASDAQ OMX Baltic exchanges, with the first reports scheduled for this summer. The research will only be available to institutional and professional investors and will concentrate on investment ideas, not the usual investment recommendations of buy, sell and hold. Revenues will be generated primarily through commission sharing agreements between the client and the agency executing trades, as well as bespoke research services. The shareholder agreement includes principles that guarantee the company’s day-to-day independence from the exchanges.
Hans-Ole Jochumsen, Executive Vice President and President NASDAQ OMX Nordic said, “The idea of setting up an independent research company dedicated to covering the Baltic markets, with the goal of improving liquidity levels, has been in our minds for some time. This seemed a suitable time to take our idea into action and we expect this to be beneficial for all market participants.”

About Ivars Bergmanis
Ivars Bergmanis, the Managing Director of Emerging Nordic Research has more than 20 years of global financial market experience. After working for four years on the buy side in Australia with Colonial Mutual Investment Management, he has spent the rest of his time on the sell side. This included seven years in London with HSBC Investment Bank, where he was the global coordinator for natural resources research and part of an Institutional Investor research award-winning team. Since 2004 he has focused on the Baltics and has participated directly in almost every significant Baltics-related IPO/ECM transaction as a senior team member of SEB Enskilda (2007-2008) and Suprema Securities / Evli (2004-2006).

About NASDAQ OMX
The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. is the world’s largest exchange company. It delivers trading, exchange technology and public company services across six continents, with over 3,800 listed companies. NASDAQ OMX offers multiple capital raising solutions to companies around the globe, including its U.S. listings market, NASDAQ OMX Nordic, NASDAQ OMX Baltic, NASDAQ OMX First North, and the U.S. 144A sector. The company offers trading across multiple asset classes including equities, derivatives, debt, commodities, structured products and exchange-traded funds. NASDAQ OMX technology supports the operations of over 70 exchanges, clearing organizations and central securities depositories in more than 50 countries. NASDAQ OMX Nordic and NASDAQ OMX Baltic are not legal entities but describe the common offering from NASDAQ OMX exchanges in Helsinki, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Iceland, Tallinn, Riga, and Vilnius. For more information about NASDAQ OMX, visit http://www.nasdaqomx.com.

CONTACTS:

Emerging Nordic Research
Ivars Bergmanis, Managing director, +372 534 11114, ivars@emergingnordicresearch.com

The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc.
Tex Vertmann, Head of Communications, NASDAQ OMX Tallinn +372 640 8862
Āris Dreimanis, Head of Communications, NASDAQ OMX Riga +371 67 212431
Gintare Blazyte, Head of Communication, NASDAQ OMX Vilnius +370 5 272 3458