Amman Stock Exchange becomes state-owned company

AMMAN — The Amman Stock Exchange (ASE) has become a public shareholding company fully owned by the government, according to an ASE statement released Tuesday.

The new entity was registered with the Companies Controller Department as a public shareholding corporation with a JD4,774,525 capital on February 20, 2017, the statement said.

The ASE corporation is the legal successor of the Amman Bourse, including all its rights, assets and commitments, the statement noted, adding that the corporation's stocks were registered at the Jordan Securities Commission on March 6, 2017. 

The Cabinet had approved the transformation last year.

The ASE will continue its works as a licensed financial market, as of the date of its registration in the new identity, the statement said.

The Cabinet appointed the following new board of seven directors: Yousef Mansour, Abdul Raouf Rababah, Ashraf Odwan, Hala Zawati, Mohammad Balbisi, Sami Shreim and Hamza Jaradat. 

During the first meeting of the ASE board, Mansour was elected president of the board, and Abdul Raouf Rababah vice president.

Investors from more than 97 nationalities own shares in companies listed on the ASE, making up 50 per cent of the total investors, the bourse’s CEO Nader Azar said earlier at a press conference. 

By the end of 2016, the ASE price index reached 2170.3 points, after an increase of 1.6 per cent compared with the previous year, the CEO indicated.

The market capitalisation of listed shares at the ASE decreased by 3.6 per cent to JD17.3 billion; compared to 2015 closing, constituting 65 per cent of the GDP, he added.

The Amman Bourse was established in 1999 as a non-profit institution with administrative and financial autonomy.