European Bank issued the following announcement on  Feb. 7.

Greek small businesses wishing to access the local capital market will receive much-needed support thanks to a new SME pre-listing Support Programme.

The Ministry of Economy and Development, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Athens Stock Exchange (ATHEX) signed today a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to join forces to boost capital market activity and increase the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) for initial public offering (IPO) or corporate bond issuance on the Athens Stock Exchange.

With the support of the EBRD-Greek Technical Assistance Fund, the new SME Pre-listing Support Programme will extend tailored advisory services to SMEs wishing to access the local capital market. The programme will be implemented by the EBRD in close coordination with ATHEX over 30 months. They will work hand-in-hand to build on the recently launched Roots Programme that also aims to assist SMEs to access financing through the local capital market.

Interested SMEs can apply to the programme with an expression of interest through the Roots website. Each enterprise selected will receive a diagnostic on their readiness for listing, based on which a tailored work plan will be developed and executed by high-calibre experts. 

The programme will be implemented under the EBRD’s Small Business Initiative and the Local Currency and Capital Markets Initiative.

The signing of the MoU took place in the presence of Stathis Giannakidis, Deputy Minister of Economy and Development, Ilias Xanthakos, Secretary General of the Ministry of Economy and Development, Socrates Lazaridis, Chief Executive Officer of the Athens Stock Exchange and Sabina Dziurman, EBRD Director, Regional Head of Greece and Cyprus.

The EBRD started investing in Greece in 2015 to support the country’s economic recovery. To date, the Bank has invested over €2.3 billion in more than 40 projects in the country.

Original source can be found here.