Toronto seeks Gulf partnerships

dubai — The Toronto Stock Exchange, which is vying to host Saudi Aramco’s overseas listing, is exploring partnerships with bourses in the Gulf to help it tap into energy privatisations there.

The exchange, the global leader for oil and gas listings, expects that such collaborations would encourage parallel listings of Middle East companies, said Monica Rovers, head of business development for global energy at Toronto Stock Exchange and TSX Venture Exchange, part of the TMX Group.

Toronto has similar collaborations with stock exchanges in Oslo and Bogota and is exploring an agreement with Mexico’s stock exchange. “A partnership with a stock exchange in the (Gulf) region is a possibility,” Rovers said during a visit to the UAE and Oman.

“There seems to be a new wave of thinking in the Middle East of companies considering privatisation and that’s one of the reasons we are here.” She said the cost of listing in Canada was around 30 per cent less than in New York, while the time taken to list was also shorter. A well prepared company could list within about three months, she said.

Aramco remains the big target, and attracting it would also make Toronto more attractive to Gulf firms. “We are one of the exchanges that would love to have Aramco listed with us and we worked together with a consortium of major Canadian banks and broker-dealers to try to bring that listing to TSX,” Rovers said. —