Libyan bourse to reopen

The Libyan Stock Exchange will allow foreign ownership of more than 10 per cent and will resume trading by the end of February after an armed rebellion against the regime of Muammar Gaddafi forced it to close, Chairman Ahmad Karoud said. About seven to eight companies are expected to trade by the end of the month from the total of 13 listed entities, Karoud told Al Arabiya in a telephone interview yesterday. The return in trading was delayed by liquidity-related problems in the market and the impact of the war, he said. An investment fund will be rolled out in June to be followed by another in the second half of the year, Karoud said. The bourse has 13 listed companies, including the exchange itself, with a combined market capitalisation of about 3.9 billion dinars, Karoud told Bloomberg News in a September 28 interview. The biggest companies include Gumhouria Bank, Sahara Bank and Wahda Bank, which together account for about half of the market capitalisation. Foreigners own less than one per cent of the shares listed on the bourse, Karoud said at the time.