All Bell ceremonies

Liliane investment management championship

Liliane investment management championship with French students

Tech start-up Liliane partnered up with Euronext to launch an investment management championship with French finance schools and universities.

Particularly relevant to new generation retail investors, Liliane provides modern portfolio and asset management services for funds via an online portal. The championship consisted in involving 255 graduate students pursuing a Master’s of Finance in 15 French schools and universities in a portfolio and asset management competition. Their challenge? Put themselves in the role of a professional asset manager and create the best investment strategy.

Euronext decided to accompany Liliane as this championship was aligned with a key objective of Euronext Fund Service: simplify and open up fund investment to make it accessible to all investor profiles. Alongside Liliane, and partners Lyxor Asset Management (ETF issuer) and Morningstar, Euronext hosted a closing bell in our Paris offices on 17 May for the championship’s awards ceremony.

Better Options LLP

Better Options LLP celebrates partnership

Better Options LLP sounds the gong on the Amsterdam exchange to highlight the partnership with IG Markets. Head of IG Markets Germany and the Netherlands, Michael Lippa opens trading at Euronext Amsterdam.

In 2015, Better Options Amsterdam started a partnership with IG Markets, a British broker founded in 1974 with a focus online trading. This unique partnership offers IG direct access to the trading floor of the Amsterdam Exchange. The sounding of the gong highlights the 3-years anniversary of this partnership.

For more information: www.betteroptions.nl

Download photo

Signify

Gong for first trading day as Signify

To mark the company’s first trading day under the name Signify, Chief Financial Officer Stephane Rougeot, sounds the gong. Signify became the new company name of Philips Lighting as of May 16, 2018.

Signify (ticker symbol: LIGHT) is a world leader in lighting for professionals and consumers and lighting for the Internet of Things. Their Philips products, Interact connected lighting systems and data-enabled services, deliver business value and transform life in homes, buildings and public spaces. With 2017 sales of EUR 7.0 billion, approximately 32,000 employees and a presence in over 70 countries, Signify unlock the extraordinary potential of light for brighter lives and a better world.

For more information: www.signify.com

Download photo

19th Bio€quity Europe Conference

19th Bio€quity Europe Conference in Ghent

Euronext was delighted to be opening the 19th edition of Bio€quity Europe with a remote bell ceremony in Ghent, Belgium.

Anna Chrisman (EBD Group), Dirk Rey (flanders.bio) and Eric Pierce (BioCentury) opened the financial markets at this occasion. Bio€quity Europe is the seminal industry event for financial dealmakers looking for investor-validated life science companies.

Philips Innovation Award 2018

Winner Philips Innovation Award 2018 sounds gong

Chantal van der Velde and Graciëlla van Hamersveld sound the gong. The co-founders of Closure celebrate winning the annual Philips Innovation Award.

The Philips Innovation Award is the biggest student-entrepreneur award in the Netherlands. This year, the 13th edition of the award was organized by students, for students. The Philips Innovation Award is a platform where each participant can benefit. Participants get personal feedback, practice important skills, receive coaching and build a network. 

During the Semi-Final, the 30 best participants had the chance to pitch their ideas in front of investors and entrepreneurs, while they were judged by a professional jury. The 8 best start-ups made it to the final, where 800 visitors experienced an inspiring evening with key-note speakers and innovations of high-quality. Closure won the Innovator League and received a prize worth €50.000. Circal Technologies won the Rough Diamond League and received the prize worth €10.000. 

For more information: www.phia.nl

Download photo

Family Business Award 2018

Dutch Flower Group celebrates Family Business Award

Marco van Zijverden, CEO Dutch Flower Group,  sounds the gong to celebrate, together with colleagues, winning the Family Business Award 2018. The family business was chosen from a select group of five nominated companies.

These companies were selected from hundreds of family businesses in collaboration with partners KPMG and ABN AMRO. On 11 April Dutch Flower Group received the Family Business Award 2018 from Jan Kees de Jager, former state secretary and minister of finance and since 2014 CFO of KPN.

Dutch Flower Group, from the Van Zijverden and Van Duijn families, comprises 30 specialized trading companies that jointly serve the entire floriculture chain. It is a real family business that is experiencing enormous growth internationally and is now the largest in its market with an annual turnover of € 1.5 billion. Under the motto "Making Life Colorful", knowledge, quality, service, innovation and sustainability are leading principles in the business.

For more information: www.dfg.nl

Download photo

Roparun Foundation

Roparun Foundation visits Amsterdam stock exchange

The Roparun starts Saturday 19 may 2018 in Hamburg and Paris and finishes White Monday 21 May in Rotterdam. Director of Roparun Foundation Wiljan Vloet sounds the gong, accompanied by participants of teams Unilever (ticker symbol: UNA) and NN (ticker symbol: NN).

The Roparun is a relay race of more than 500 kilometers from Paris and Hamburg to Rotterdam, in which people work as a team to give a collective sports performance in order to raise money for people who suffer from cancer. This year’s 27^th edition has 312 teams participating in this challenge.

Besides the physical challenge, the team must also make an effort to raise money for the cause. Teams do this by organizing various activities. The three teams who raise the most money and the six teams who win for their running speed are honored during the final celebration of the Roparun, which takes place a few weeks after the finish. Over the past editions, more than seventy-eight million Euro has been raised.

For more information: www.roparun.nl

Download photo

MillionsMissing

MillionsMissing opens trading

The Dutch organizers of the worldwide MillionMissing campaign open the Amsterdam stock exchange by sounding the gong. By opening the trading day, they raise a symbolic alarm about the funding of research of the disease Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME).

The MEAction Network is an international organization for equal health rights for people with ME, a neuro-immunological disorder with severe disabling consequences that causes heavy exhaustion, pain, cardio logical problems and exercise intolerance that occurs 24 to 76 hours after small effort and can  lead to a crash.

MEAction continuously campaigns for more biomedical research, education of doctors and equal civil rights for people with ME under the title MillionsMissing. On 12 May, the MillionsMissing, who miss their lives, show themselves all over the world. This year in the Netherlands, this campaign will be mostly virtual.

For more information: www.meaction.net

Download photo

Businesswoman of the Year

Businesswoman of the Year opens stock exchange

Businesswoman of the Year 2018, Aukje Kuypers, opens the stock exchange in Amsterdam. Kuypers is chief executive of technical service provider Kuijpers. The Businesswoman of the Year is an international prize that is supported by champagne brand Veuve Clicquot, part of the LVMH Group, listed on Euronext (ticker symbol: MC).

As a fourth generation member of the family, Aukje Kuypers heads up the family business (established in 1921) with offices throughout the Netherlands. With a turnover of almost €200 million and 1150 employees, the company is engaged in the sustainable design, construction, maintenance and operation of technical installations. The company's mission is to realize energy-neutral, smart and healthy installations only. Kuijpers is active in various sectors, such as culture, food, pharma, high tech, health care and education.

For more information: www.kuijpers.nl

Download photo

Listing Parx Plastic

Parx Plastic celebrates listing Euronext Access

Dutch company Parx Plastics N.V. realized its listing on Euronext Access in Paris recently. To celebrate this listing, Michael van der Jagt, CEO of Parx Plastics, opens the trading day by striking the gong.

Parx Plastics (ticker symbol: MLPRX) has developed an innovative technology to make plastics antibacterial by using an essential nutrient. The integration of a body’s own trace element into plastic results in a defence mechanism against bacteria, which leads to a reduction of at least 99% of the number of bacteria on the surface of the treated plastic. The technique is particularly interesting for food packaging and for medical applications such as implants.

For more information: www.parxplastics.com

Download photo

Fair Trade week

Fair Trade week starts with sounding of the gong

Director of the Max Havelaar foundation Peter d'Angremond opens the trading day on the Amsterdam exchange for the start of the Fair Trade week, which runs from 5 to 13 May.

This spring Max Havelaar calls on companies, municipalities, consumers and volunteers to make their commitment to Fair Trade visible during the Fair Trade Week. Through the international stand4fairness campaign, the importance of Fair Trade for millions of people in developing countries is emphasized. The actions on the shop floor during the Fair Trade Week ensure that the volume for farmers' organizations in developing countries continues to grow so that more Fair Trade development premiums can be paid.

The Max Havelaar Foundation is the organizer of the Fair Trade Week and owner of the Fair Trade quality mark in the Netherlands. Fair Trade contributes to the sustainable development of producers in developing countries. They work to improve their business through better trade conditions, living conditions and protection of the environment.

For more information: www.maxhavelaar.nl

Download photo

Parx Plastics N.V.

Parx Plastics N.V. lists on Euronext Access

Parx Plastics N.V. celebrates a private placement on Euronext Access in Paris. Michael van der Jagt, CEO of Parx Plastics N.V.  opens the Paris trading day.

Parx Plastics specializes in the development, manufacturing and marketing of biocompatible plastics and antibacterial polymers. The company's technology does not feature synthetic chemicals, biocides, heavy metals or nanoparticles. It can be used with any type of plastic. It is fully biocompatible, non-toxic, and does not diffuse out of the material. Also, it removes about 99% of bacteria and microorganisms pilling up on the surface of a product within 24 hours.

For more information check: www.parxplastics.com

Remembrance Day 2018

Sounding of the gong for Remembrance Day 2018

The Amsterdam 4 and 5 May Youth Committee opens the trading day in Amsterdam. In addition, attention will be paid to the start of a special day in the Netherlands: the national remembrance of the dead.

Amsterdam joins the rest of the Netherlands on 4 May when its citizens pause to pay their respects to the victims and fallen soldiers of World War II, as well as more recent military conflicts and peacekeeping operations. Then it's time for a national party on 5 May, as the crowds take to the streets to celebrate their freedom on Liberation Day. On the 4th and 5th of May, there are over 300 activities taking place in Amsterdam to keep alive the memories of World War II.

For more information: www.4en5meiamsterdam.nl

Download photo

Merlin Technology

ABN AMRO Participaties celebrates stake Merlin Technology

The sounding of the gong is performed by Ron van Veenendaal, founder of Merlin Technology. ABN AMRO Participaties has recently acquired a substantial equity stake in Merlin Technology.

Merlin Technology, specialist in currency processing and payment solutions, designs, develops, produces and maintains equipment for the payment industry and smartsafes (through its label Lincsafe). ABN AMRO Participaties will support Merlin Technology in accelerating its growth and expanding its international network by investing in the development of new and innovative payment solutions.

Merlin Technology is an innovative, fast growing technology company specialized in hybrid (cash and non-cash) payment solutions. Merlin Technology’s payment solutions are found in the B2C segment and include petrol, retail, gaming, banking and government.

ABN AMRO Participaties is a subsidiary of ABN AMRO Bank (ticker symbol: ABN), which provides for sufficient access to knowledge and equity capital in order to support their portfolio companies in their growth plans.

For more information: www.merlin.nl

Download photo

Wierda en Partners asset management

Wierda en Partners Vermogensbeheer celebrates 10-year anniversary

Founder and CEO Edwin Wierda sounds the gong to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of asset management company Wierda en Partners Vermogensbeheer.

Wierda en Partners Vermogensbeheer celebrates its 10-year anniversary this month. In the past 10 years Wierda en Partners Vermogensbeheer has grown into one of the larger independent asset managers in the Netherlands. With offices in Assen and Laren they offer personal services and customized portfolio’s for their customers in the Netherlands. The focus is on asset management in bonds and individual shares combined with derivatives.

For more information: www.wierdavermogensbeheer.nl

Download photo

Philips Innovation Award 2018

Philips Innovation Award 2018 opens trading

The Philips Innovation Award 2018 finals are coming up. Friso Tigchelaar, chairman of the Philips Innovation Award 2018, sounds the gong and opens the trading day on the Amsterdam exchange.

The Philips Innovation Award, the biggest student-entrepreneur award in the Netherlands, organized for students, by students, will take place 7 May. During the final, the organisers will announce the next student entrepreneur of the Netherlands as well as the winner of the grand prize of 50.000 euros!

For more information: www.phia.nl

Download photo

King’s Day

Oranje Bond Celebrate King’s Day

On King’s Day many ‘Oranjeverenigingen’ are busy organizing a village or town festival to celebrate the birthday of the king of the Netherlands. The KBOV is the national representative of all ‘Oranjeverenigingen’ and sounds the gong.

The KBOV helps ‘Oranjeverenigingen’ with advice and information and organizes meeting points for exchange of experiences and ideas. In addition, the KBOV want to make clear that this kingdom, which is not bound by party or group, will be present in the plural society for every Dutch citizen, regardless of origin, race or religion.

The KBOV stresses the importance of promoting and strengthening the bond between the Dutch population and the House of Orange. It seeks to achieve this by initiating and stimulating celebrations and other commemorations to mark heyday in the House of Orange. Meanwhile, more than 310 local ‘Oranjeverenigingen’  are a member of the KBOV.

For more information: www.oranjebond.nl

Download photo

Allen & Overy

Allen & Overy opens trading

International Financial Law Review (IFLR) has chosen Allen & Overy Amsterdam as the leading law firm in the Netherlands in 2018. A delegation from the company opens trading at the Amsterdam stock exchange with a sounding of the gong.

Allen & Overy is a law firm that operates globally with an extensive business practice, a litigation practice and a team of experts in the field of legislation and regulations. In addition to the office in Amsterdam, it has 44 offices across the world.

For more information: www.allenovery.com

Download photo