Aquis Stock Exchange (AQSE), the primary and secondary trading business of exchange service group Aquis Exchange PLC, has been granted equivalence status by the Frankfurt Stock Exchange’s Open Market. This means companies with a quotation on AQSE can seek a dual quotation on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and vice versa.

With its fully electronic Xetra market and its floor trading venue, the Frankfurt Stock Exchange is one of the largest exchanges in the world and continental Europe’s largest. The Open Market in Frankfurt mainly trades foreign shares, bonds of German and foreign issuers, certificates and warrants in addition to German shares. Currently 44,366 international securities are tradable in the Open Market.

For companies considering a  dual listing for AQSE securities on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange, advantages include better access to the German-speaking financial community, which has Europe’s largest retail investor community, and stocks become accessible to certain German funds that only allow investment in companies with a domestic listing.

Dual listing is a simple process, which carries minor cost implications and, crucially, has no additional reporting or compliance requirements. The arrangement between AQSE and Frankfurt was effective from 3 May 2021.

Commenting on the development, Aquis Exchange PLC CEO, Alasdair Haynes, said:

“We are very pleased to have reached this agreement with our German counterparts to allow AQSE-quoted stocks to list in Frankfurt and thus gain simpler access to investors beyond the UK. In return, we look forward to having German stocks come to us to benefit from AQSE’s unique liquidity pool, narrow spreads and institutional support base. The strategy at Aquis is to constantly innovate to improve our offering for the sake of issuers, investors, be they institutions or private individuals, and the economy overall.”

AQSE already has a dual listing arrangement with OTC of the US.

Source: Aquis