Wiener Boerse to support expansion of Prague energy bourse

Prague, Nov 11 (CTK) - The Vienna Stock Exchange (Wiener Boerse), the new
owner of the Prague bourse (BCPP), will support the expansion of the Prague
Energy Exchange (PXE), Prague bourse chief executive Petr Koblic told a
news conference on Tuesday.

The PXE already started to trade in Slovak electricity in October and
should launch trading on markets in the other countries of Central and
Eastern Europe in the months to come. It could also start to offer trading
in new commodities, said Koblic.

"We will almost certainly open markets in some other countries in Central
and Eastern Europe in the following months. The alliance with Vienna should
help us significantly in this in terms of finances and technological
strength," he said.

The content of the first strategic meeting of the Vienna and Prague
exchanges' management could be the development of the energy exchange.

The Vienna exchange announced the purchase of a 92.4 percent stake in the
dominant Czech securities market on Friday. The price of the transaction
has not been disclosed. According to estimates, the price could reach
around Kc4.5bn.

The Prague bourse has become a fourth member of an alliance of stock
exchanges after the takeover as Wiener Boerse already holds majority stakes
in exchanges in Budapest and Ljubljana.

The position of the Prague exchange in central Europe is unique, Wiener
Boerse head Michael Buhl said on Tuesday, adding he would not be against another
acquisition in Central or Eastern Europe.

The markets of the entire stock exchange group could now attract
international investors more, but should continue to operate separately in
local conditions, Buhl said.

The aim of the Vienna exchange is above all to attract local companies to
local stock markets, in this case Czech firms to the Prague bourse, he
added.

Plans of the four Central European stock exchanges for the nearest period
also include sale of information and calculation of indices, for instance,
said Koblic.

One of the possible steps in the long term is a switch to a single trade
platform, he added.