TALLINN STOCK EXCHANGE

ANNOUNCEMENT

 

TSE SUPERVISORY BOARD DECISIONS

 

The Supervisory Board of the Tallinn Stock Exchange (TSE) held its 

meeting on Thursday, March 16, 2000.

 

1. Supervisory Board resolved to enforce the chapter "Take-over 

Rules" of TSE Rules and Regulations, to be effective 10 days after 

publishing in official publication "Official Announcements". 

 

Take-over rules have also been adopted to the Estonian Securities 

Market Act and they are effective since February 25, 2000. Based on 

the principles set out in the Act, the Exchange is required to 

establish a detailed regulatory framework over mandatory and 

voluntary takeover bids.

 

Due to the enforcement of take-over rules, the Supervisory Board 

also made changes to the amounts of penalties charged by TSE, which 

are effective as of April 16, 2000. The offeror can be fined for 

violation of obligations stipulated in the rules in the amount 

between EEK 500,000 and EEK 5 million; fine for target company was 

set between EEK 100,000 and EEK 5 million. 

 

2. Supervisory Board approved the new price list of TSE, effective 

as of April 1, 2000.

 

Majority of the fees charged by the TSE will remain unchanged. The 

amended price list lowers the listing fees for fixed income 

securities, aiming to support the development of fixed income 

securities market in Estonia. With the new price list, the TSE also 

seeks to promote public program issues of securities, bond issues 

by currently listed share issuers, stock exchange members and 

investment-grade issuers, and issues of treasury and municipal 

bonds. 

 

3. Supervisory Board resolved to make amendments to chapters 

"Listing Rules" and "Listing Particulars for Admission of Bonds" of 

TSE Rules and Regulations, in a bid to boost the development of 

public fixed income securities market in Estonia. 

 

The amendments define program issue of securities and stipulate 

rules for listing of individual issues of securities conducted 

under a program, in accordance with the recent amendments to the 

Securities Market Act.

 

In order to take into account specific risks of different issuers 

of fixed income securities, changes were made to the TSE rules to 

differentiate issue prospectus requirements based on  the type of 

issuer, whereby simplifying the access for low-risk issuers in the 

context of Estonian securities market. 

 

The amendments also abolish several bond listing requirements, 

including provisions regarding bond issuer's operating history and 

profitability. For the benefit of retail investors, the board 

decided that the face value of a listed bond may not exceed EEK 

1,000. Minimum issue volume was reduced from EEK 10 million to EEK 

3.1 million (EUR 200,000), in line with relevant European Union 

directives.

 

Changes are effective as of April 16,  2000.

 

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The full version of the above-mentioned documents is available in 

Estonian language on TSE Internet homepage at 

<a href='http://www.tse.ee/rules.' target='_blank'>http://www.tse.ee/rules.</a> Translations into English language will be 

available shortly.

 

 

Additional information:

 

Eva Palu

Head of Investor Relations Dept.

Tel: +372 6 408 840