On 7th December the current issues of OJSC North-West Telecom shares and bonds passed the listing procedure at the stock exchange Moscow Inter-Bank Currency Exchange (MICE) and were included in Quotation List A, level 2. Until then the OJSC North-West Telecom shares and bonds were classified as unlisted and last October the shares were rated as liquid. The trade in securities will begin at the MICE after the Federal Stock Markets Service approves the decision of the Exchange Board of Directors.

Securities are listed on the condition that they meet certain criteria, such as the issuer’s financial performance and composition of shareholders, liquidity of the securities, volume of issue, quality of information disclosure etc. Unlike the unlisted securities, the prices of deals in listed securities at the MICE are the accepted exchange quotations for the purposes of regulating the activity of investment funds, evaluating fixed assets, taxation, calculating the credit organization limit per borrower as well as for other purposes.

After the securities were listed at Russia’s leading stock exchange, the circle of investors able to deal in the OJSC NWT securities expanded considerably. E.I. Tomilina, IR & PR officer, commented on this event, confirming that “the greater number of places where market participants may freely deal in the OJSC North-West Telecom securities” is part of the strategy to increase the capitalization and improve the image of OJSC NWT in the business community as well as to obtain more favorable conditions for attracting funds on financial markets”.

At present, OJSC NWT securities are traded at the Russian Trading System, Moscow Inter-Bank Currency Exchange and St. Petersburg Currency Exchange. OJSC NWT shares in the form of ADR level 1 are admitted to the U.S. over-the-counter securities market. A total of about 4.68% ordinary shares in the company were converted into ADRs.