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Palestine Stock Exchange closes London Road Show

2011-06-27

Palestine Stock Exchange ended the promotional road show that was organized in the British capital, London, on 23 and 24 of this month, with the participation of the economic advisor of the President Mahmoud Abbas, Board Chairman of the Palestine Investment Fund Dr. Mohammed Mustafa, Palestine Stock Exchange representatives, Palestine Capital Market Authority , PALTEL Group (sponsor partner of the road show), Palestine Development & Investment PADICO, Bank of Palestine BOP, Wataniya Mobile Telecommunication WATANIYA, Birzeit Pharmaceutical Company BPC, Palestine Investment and Development PID, Rasmala Palestine Equity Fund.

During the events of the road show, 30 mutual meetings were held over between listed companies and institutional investors and leading British Investment funds that are resident in London, in addition to several media interviews with leading specialized regional and international financial media, where opportunities and benefits of investing in Palestinian listed stocks were displayed.

 The road show events included "Palestine Capital market"s day" that was held in cooperation with the London Stock Exchange in its headquarter. The CEO of Palestine stock exchange Ahmad Aweidah and Ammar AL Aker the CEO of Palestine Telecommunications PALTEL (sponsor partner of the road show) and the delegation, had opened London Stock Exchange trading session last Friday.

A major workshop followed that included a presentation on investment opportunities in the Palestinian economy by Mohammad Mustafa, and performances of the success stories of the listed companies that were participating in the road show, in addition to two other performances by Rasmala Palestinian Equity Fund and Palestine Stock Exchange about the opportunities, benefits and returns on investment in the Palestinian listed Stocks.

 The road show also included a working session in cooperation with the international depository bank " Bank of New York Mellon" about the Global Depository Receipts "GDR" that had been concluded with signing the first agreement of issuing GDR"s with Palestine Development & Investment "PADICO Holding" , to represent an important opportunity to draw the attention of the external investors to the investment opportunities in the listed companies on the stock exchange, adding to a session with PR Newswire; which is a specialized economic information network that reported the latest developments in the field of disclosure and in investors" relations best practices.

Commenting on the road show, Aweidah emphasized the positive feedback that the road show left in various British institutions that participated, stressing out that it constituted a further opportunity to highlight the opportunities and benefits of Palestinian listed stocks in front of the largest and most important investment funds and the institutional funds in the United Kingdom, as they accumulate the efforts initiated by the stock market through the first road show in London last year.

He also reported: "we have seen real interest among the investment funds and a desire to learn more about the Palestinian market and opportunities, and this in itself is an achievement for participants in the road show and for the national economy in General."

Aweidah hoped for having a strategic long-term benefit from these road shows, showing that the intensive working meetings of the Palestinian delegations with the investment managers of the British Investment funds is another turning point in the direct British dialogue and the continuous communication with the officials and the investment decision makers of these funds, stressing out that the political reality of Palestine does not constitute an obstacle in attracting foreign investments, and the proof is that the proportion of foreign investment in the Palestinian stock market is growing and had reached today to approximately 42% especially that Palestine possesses an open liberal economy in terms  of modern legal framework compared to the Arab capital markets and the region, as well as there are no restrictions or taxes on foreign financial investments, rather than the culture of governance ,disclosure ,developed infrastructure and the high-technology that match the Arab and Regional levels. Aweidah praised the partnership with PALTEL group through cooperation in organizing the road show.

From his side, Al Aker clarified that the sponsorship and support of Palestine Telecommunications to the London Road Show came within the significant role of PALTEL in the Palestinian Economy, indicating its pioneer status in the capital market in Palestine, whereby PALTEL had assured again its responsibility towards the Economic development. He stated that London Road Show came to fulfill the group’s aspiration to increase the investments in Palestine Stock Exchange which in turn is considered the investment gate to Palestine. Al Aker said that through the mutual meetings; the group presented its results, its strong penetration, growth evident, revenues and all strength points, revealing that the group is proud that the Palestinian delegation had opened the London Stock Exchange markets meeting to prove that the Palestinian companies have a highly capability to exist and compete on a global level.