Starting price of public property stock to be determined under new regulation

The starting prices of publicly-owned stocks put up for privatization at outcry auctions on the Moldova Stock Exchange will be determined by a specially set up commission. A fresh regulation adopted by the Government states that the price cannot be lower than the market value of the stocks, that is the six-month average weighted price on the Stock Exchange, Info-Prim Neo reports. For shares whose value cannot be determined, the price will be lower than that computed based on the value of the company's own stock as assessed by the latest annual financial report. The regulation also provides for multipliers, from 0.3 to 0.6, depending on the size of the interest in a given company that is put up for auction. These coefficients will be applied when determining the starting price of the stock. Economy Minister Valeriu Lazar didn't specify when the next round of public auctions could take place, but said that we should be prepared for it. The government owns shares in 184 joint stock companies, with interests ranging from 10% to 100%.