Polish securities regulators approved shares in Hungarian oil group MOL for public trading, clearing the way for MOL to list on Central Europe's biggest market in Warsaw.
"Today the Commission approved ... MOL for public trading," the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a brief statement after a meeting on Friday.
Separately, a source close to MOL told Reuters the company hoped to be listed in Warsaw in the first half of December.
The Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest among Central and Eastern Europe's eight new European Union members, with a total capitalisation of just over $70 billion -- including $12 billion from cross-listed Bank Austria .
Poland's captive market of pension funds hungry for new investments has made the bourse attractive to companies elsewhere in the region looking to boost their shares' liquidity.
Attila Vago, analyst at Concorde securities, said MOL was expected to offer 5.3 million of its own shares to Polish institutional investors via the listing.
"I don't think there would be any significant effect on the share price," he added.
Hungarian chemicals producer Borsodchem is also listed in Warsaw and will soon be joined by Ivax of the United States, which wants to use its shares to pay for the takeover of a Polish rival.
The listing would make it easier to compare MOL's valuation with that of Polish peer PKN Orlen . The two have discussed capital links, possibly including a merger, but talks collapsed earlier this year.
Source: Reuters
22.11.2004