London Stock Exchange

London Stock Exchange Group plc is the leading diversified exchange group in Europe. Following the merger with Borsa Italiana, the Group is Europe’s leading equities business, with 48% of the FTSEurofirst 100 by market capitalisation and with the most liquid order book by value and volume traded.

In addition to its capital-raising and equity trading services, the Group also offers; Europe’s leading market for the electronic trading of ETFs and securitised derivates; MTS, Europe’s leading fixed-income market; the most efficient post-trade services in Europe through CC&G and Monte Titoli, and equities derivatives trading through EDX London and IDEM.

The London Stock Exchange plc is the world's capital market and the most international of all exchanges, with over 700 international companies from 70 countries around the world represented on our markets. The Exchange has built on more than 300 years of integrity, expertise and market knowledge to become one of the world’s foremost equity exchanges. In October 2007 the Exchange merged with Borsa Italiana S.p.A making us the leading diversified exchange group in Europe.

The Exchange's thriving markets have helped to make London the focus of the international financial community and the ideal place for companies to raise capital and enhance their corporate profile. At the heart of the global financial centre, it is home to some of the largest, most successful and dynamic companies in the world.

MICEX Stock Exchange

MICEX Stock Exchange is the largest stock exchange in Russia, on which shares of over 200 Russian issuers are traded daily, including blue chips such as Gazprom, Lukoil, Surgutneftegas, Sberbank, UES of Russia, Norilsk Nickel, MTS, Tatneft, Novatek and many more, with a total market capitalization of around 1200 billion US dollars (as of February 26, 2008). 636 organizations participate in trading on the MICEX Stock Exchange with a client base of about 530 thousand investors. Trading volume on the MICEX SE reached 1708,9 billion US dollars in 2007, including 1215,3 billion US dollars in share trading, which accounts for about 99% of the total turnover on all stock exchanges in Russia. On top of that, a significant number of ETFs are traded on the Exchange. The MICEX index which is the key indicator for Russian stocks, grew by 11.5% in 2007.

In recent years corporate bonds have become one of the main vehicles used by Russian businesses to raise development capital. MICEX Stock Exchange is the main trading floor for the bonds of over 500 Russian companies, banks and regions. In 2007, 180 companies floated their bonds on the MICEX Stock Exchange, raising the combined sum of 18.7 billion US dollars, and secondary trading volume was 492.8 billion US dollars. The performance of the bond market is reflected by the MICEX Corporate Bond Index, which was started in 2003.

Between 2002 and 2006, there were 14 IPOs on the Exchange raising a total sum of 27.2 billion US dollars of the following issuers: RBK, Apteka 36.3, Koncern Kalina, Irkut, Hleb Aptaya, Lebedyanskiy and Severstal-Avto, Rosneft, OGK-5, Sistema-Hals, Raspadskaya Mining and others. In 2007, 19 companies used the Exchange for their IPOs or secondary public offerings (SPOs), including Sberbank and VTB Bank. Together, these offerings raised US$ 26 billion of investment funds.

In 2006 the MICEX Stock Exchange made substantial changes to simplify the IPO process for issuers listing on the stock market. To smooth the listing process onto the Russian stock market for mid and small cap issuers, two new categories for listing, "V" and "I" were created, as well as a new Sector for innovative and fast growing companies (the IRK sector). These innovations have had immediate positive effect. The Sector accredited listing agents and saw in 2007 debut placements and trading starting in the shares of the Finam — Information Technologies Closed-End Investment Fund and the Armada company.

In 2007 the MICEX Stock Exchange further strengthened its status as the largest stock exchange in Russia, CIS, Central and Eastern Europe and joined the list of the world's top 20 stock exchanges by volume of trading in securities. Hosting more than 70% of the global exchange turnover in Russian securities, the MICEX Stock Exchange has become the centre of liquidity for Russian assets and the main route for international investment into leading Russian companies.