Press releases 2002

20 November 2002

London is first choice for Indian companies

London is now the clear first choice for Indian companies wanting an international listing for their shares, the Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange told a conference in Mumbai last night.

Clara Furse, speaking at a conference co-hosted by the Exchange and the Confederation of Indian Industry, said that international companies are increasingly being attracted to London by a combination of advantages that no other market can offer.

"London is the market of choice in Europe and an important gateway to international capital for companies from all over the world, especially India", she said.

"Equally important, though, is that the UK has developed well-balanced and world-leading standards of corporate governance and market regulation." 

UK corporate governance sets an expectation of high standards of accountability, transparency and disclosure, adopted in best practice and sanctioned by the market.  Independent advisers have rated the UK's corporate governance standards as being among the highest in the world. 

This approach contrasts with the more prescriptive approach in the US, where the recently enacted Sarbanes-Oxley Act has imposed substantial extra rules and costs for overseas companies considering a listing on a US exchange.

18 Indian companies are listed on the London Stock Exchange - more than NYSE and Nasdaq combined.  In addition, London has seen robust growth in the trading of Indian equities over the last 6 months, with this increasing by 13 per cent compared to the same period last year.

Mrs Furse said that the Exchange was looking forward to welcoming many more Indian companies to its markets:  

"India has huge potential - it’s an extremely important market for us.  In turn, the London Stock Exchange provides the ideal base for Indian companies to promote their international credentials and attract capital from both Europe and the United States."

- ends -

Notes to editors:

• London offers a comprehensive range of markets and routes to an international listing tailored for Indian companies, including retail and professional depositary receipts, shares and bonds,
• There are 18 Indian companies listed in London. For more information visit: www.londonstockexchange.com/international/AA
• London has more international equity funds under management than any other financial centre in the world (US$2,460 billion in London compared with US$2,360 billion in New York or US$2,060 in Tokyo. Source: Thomson Financial, International Target Cities Report 2000),
• London has twice as much international trading reported as Nasdaq, NYSE, Deutsche Börse and Euronext combined (For February – June 2002. Value of non-domestic trading: London Stock Exchange £652.24 billion, Nasdaq £80.36 billion, NYSE £206.79 billion, Deutsche Börse £32.84 billion, Euronext £6.12 billion. Source: WFE/FESE),
• There are more countries represented on the London Stock Exchange’s markets than any other exchange in the world. Companies from 62 countries are on the Exchange’s markets (at end July 2002) compared with 41 on Nasdaq (at end September 4th 2002) and 51 on NYSE (at August 9th 2002). Source: London Stock Exchange and Nasdaq and NYSE websites,
• techMARK is a global market for innovative technology companies and techMARK mediscience is an international market for healthcare companies.  Visit: www.londonstockexchange.com/techmark or www.londonstockexchange.com/techmark/mediscience