SCM division acquires 8.86% of Ukrainian PFTS Exchange

MOSCOW. Feb 7 (Interfax) - Emporium LLC, a division of Rinat Akhmetov's SCM, has acquired 8.856607% of shares in the PFTS Stock Exchange, which announced plans a month ago to double its charter capital.

The exchange, Ukraine's largest by trading volume, received the information about its new shareholder on February 2, Ukrainian media reported, citing PFTS. The exchange said Emporium is owned by Crossgold Ltd, which in turn is owned by SCM Financial Overseas Ltd, which is wholly owned by Akhmetov.

There is currently no information available about the seller of these shares.

PFTS said earlier that shareholders would vote at an extraordinary general meeting on February 6 on increasing charter capital by 93.7%, to UAH62.01 million from UAH32.01, with the private placement of 30,000 new shares with par value of UAH1,000 each.

PFTS's largest shareholder at the beginning of 2022 was Hong Kong-based Bohai Commodity Exchange (BOCE Co. Limited) with 49.9%. Data from Ukraine's National Securities and Stock Market Commission showed that PFTS did not have any other shareholders with stakes greater than 5% at the end of the third quarter of 2023.

PFTS's turnover surged 260% to UAH320.8 billion in 2023 and amounted to 63% of total securities trading volume in Ukraine.

Emporium LLC, founded in 2007, previously owned several breweries in Ukraine's regions, but SCM later exited this business. Emporium's core business now is commercial and management consulting.

The official exchange rate was UAH37.55/$1 on February 6.