Standard Market

"Standard Market is an Exchange market for Czech & foreign issues"

Standard Market is a market intended for trading in the large and prestigious issues of shares in the Czech and foreign companies. The Standard Market may accept either the issues which meet the demanding statutory requirements of the official securities market or the statutory requirements of the regulated market. The Exchange also allows admission of shares without the consent of the issuer if they have already been traded on another Regulated Market in the EU.

Who is the Standard Market intended for?

The companies, whose shares are traded on the Standard Market, are always imposed high demands. If they adhere to the statutory rules of the Official Market they must meet the following statutory criteria:

• market capitalization of the issue at EUR 1,000,000
• a portion of the issue distributed among the public (so-called “free-float”) 25% at minimum
• issuer’s operation period at least 3 years

Upon its admission to the Standard Market, each issuer undertakes to fulfil its disclosure duty in Czech, Slovak or English. The same applies to the applicants if the shares are accepted without the consent of the issuer. In this case, the applicant is required to provide the Exchange with all the information the issuer will publish on another Regulated Market.

What does the Standard Market offer?

Admission to the Standard Market does not only bring the funds to the company but it means much more. Upon its admission to the Standard Market, the company gains prestige and becomes well known, more attractive and interesting not only for the potential investors but also for its customers and the general public. The Standard Market also offers the interested parties the opportunity to have attractive foreign share issues traded in the Czech Republic even without active involvement of the issuer itself.

What needs to be done to be admitted to the Standard Market?

For the issues to be accepted to the Standard Market, the following must be submitted:

• application for admission (in Czech, Slovak or English)
• security prospectus
• certification of ISIN allocation or that of similar identification code
• signed framework agreement between the issuer and the Exchange
• confirmation from the Central Depository regarding the registration of the issue (for dematerialised securities), or 4 templates of the certificates (for certificated securities), or confirmation of registration of the issue in similar foreign register
• certificate of incorporation in the Commercial Register or similar foreign register
• Memorandum of Association or Articles of Association of the issuer, or similar document under the legislation of the issuer’s country of origin
• if the issue is governed by the statutory requirements for the Official Market, annual financial statements for the last 3 years.

The Exchange CEO must decide on the admission of an issue within 10 days of the delivery of the respective application. The year the issue is admitted to the Exchange, it is exempted from the lump-sum fee for admission of issue. No annual fees are paid on the Standard Market either.