All Bell ceremonies

Benelux Capital Day

A unique forum bringing together all stakeholders of the Belgian and Dutch 'access to finance' ecosystem

Euronext today holds its first Benelux Capital Day in Kinepolis Antwerpen, gathering more than 200 professionals and 50 speakers for a new cross-border ‘access to finance’ conference, with a strong focus on tech and growth companies. To kick off the event, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Agenda and Telecom, Alexander De Croo, opened the European markets by ringing the Bell.  

The Benelux Capital Day aims to fill a gap in the Benelux investor communities. On one hand, this event facilitates the cross-fertilization between Belgian and Dutch investor markets and, on the other hand, it strives to make technology and growth companies in the Benelux more attractive towards investors.

The Benelux Capital Day gathered all key stakeholders involved in the Benelux ecosystem (listed and non-listed companies, investors, banks, associations, law firms, accountants, advisors). Speakers included Philippe De Backer (Member of the European Parliament and President of the EU IPO Task Force), Petra Zijp (Partner and Head of Capital Markets at NautaDutilh), Robbert van Heekeren (CFO of Kiadis Pharma), Vincent Reuter (CEO of Union Wallonne des Entreprises), Jean-Pierre Blumberg (Partner at Linklaters LLP) and many others.

Vincent Van Dessel, CEO of Euronext Brussels: “Many technology driven and growth companies in Belgium and the Netherlands are insufficiently aware of how to obtain access to capital. By gathering professionals from all horizons with both financial and non-financial backgrounds we offer an annual networking forum, facilitating contacts between our growth companies and the investor markets.”

Maurice van Tilburg, CEO of Euronext Amsterdam: “The Benelux capital markets provide efficient access for companies of all sizes to both retail and institutional investors. This year nearly € 83 billion was raised in debt and equity on our markets. As an exchange, we want to bring the Benelux eco system together to combine diversity of financing options in order to finance Benelux and international enterprises, helped by professional intermediaries.”

Eric Forest, Chairman and CEO of EnterNext: “For over 18 months now, EnterNext has worked on initiatives to strengthen the clout and visibility of innovative small and medium-sized businesses on capital markets. The TechShare pre-IPO programme, the roll-out of the Tech 40 and the launch of Morningstar’s equity research programme are some of these.Today’s morning conference fits in a series of EnterNext Tech conferences organized in Europe. Benelux is home to many innovative companies, and we are on hand to help them access the financing they need to pursue their projects and make best use of capital markets.”

Marc Lefèvre, Head of Listing of Euronext, concluded: “It is important for us to help Benelux listed and non-listed growth companies to improve access to capital. Euronext constantly strives to enrich its liquidity pool by offering new innovative products in the equity and bond worlds and by expanding its reach in new geographical areas such as China and Israel.”

EY Master Entrepreneur of the Year

Winner EY Master Entrepreneur Of The Year celebrates title at Euronext

The winner of the EY Master Entrepreneur of the Year, Marco van Zijverden, CEO of Dutch Flower Group, celebrates his title by sounding the gong at the Amsterdam exchange.

This year 26 entrepreneurs presented themselves on the Jury day to an independent jury. 19 finalists were selected. The award is presented annually in over sixty countries. With this award, great entrepreneurship is rewarded and stimulated, and encourages to motivate other entrepreneurs with their vision, passion, conviction and excellent leadership.

EY collaborates with the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the NVP and VNO-NCW for this election. The Entrepreneur Of The Year competition is divided in three categories: Emerging, Accelerating and Master. The Master Entrepreneur Of The Year is automatically nominated for the election of the best entrepreneur in the world: EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year. This will be held in Monaco in June 2016.

For more information: www.eyentrepreneurship.nl/eoy2015

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Sustainability Day

Ben & Jerry's visits Euronext on Sustainability Day

Ben & Jerry's visits Euronext and sounds the gong on Sustainability Day.

The ice cream brand, part of Euronext listed company Unilever (ticker symbol: UNIA), urges her fans to take action against climate change. In order to increase awareness about climate change Ben & Jerry's launched the flavour "Save Our Swirled". The raspberry ice cream is blended with swirls of marshmallow, raspberries and blackberries, and chocolate cones.

The campaign of Ben & Jerry's is a logical consequence of the progressive background of the originally American brand that uses Fairtrade ingredients and uses a CO2 offset program since 2002. 

For more information: www.benjerry.com

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Aroundtown Property Holdings

Aroundtown Property Holdings rings the bell at the occasion of their listing on Alternext

Andrew Wallis, Vice President of the Advisory Board, Aroundtown Property Holdings, opens the European trading day

Aroundtown Property Holdings PLC is a specialist real estate company focused on investing in and managing, directly and indirectly, turnaround opportunities in the real estate property market primarily in Germany. The Group covers the main real estate segments which benefit from strong fundamentals and growth prospects: residential, commercial and hotel properties.

Dimensional Fund Advisors

Dimensional Fund Advisors visits Euronext

Global investment management firm Dimensional Fund Advisors visits Euronext Amsterdam in relation to the expansion of their team to be of even better service to their Dutch relations. Vice President Jeff de Haan sounds the gong.

De Haan: “As strong believers in the power of capital markets, we are honoured to be given the opportunity to open the Amsterdam Stock Exchange. Dimensional has a unique approach to investment management and is committed to the Dutch market. We have a growing team of experienced people focused on building successful partnerships with wealth management firms, investment advisers and institutional investors. Our goal is to deliver the best investment experiences for our clients and we think we can make a positive difference in the Dutch market.” Jeff De Haan, Vice President, Dimensional Fund Advisors

For more information: www.dimensional.com

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Ambassador of the United States

American Embassy delegations sounds closing gong

His Excellency Timothy Broas, Ambassador of the United States in the Netherlands, and a delegation from the US Embassy, visits Euronext Amsterdam and closes trading by sounding the gong.

Prior to the closing gong, the delegation will attend a presentation given by Adam Rose, Head of Derivatives Euronext Amsterdam, on the history of the Amsterdam exchange and the financial relationship between the Netherlands and the United States over the centuries.

For more information: thehague.usembassy.gov

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AMX-Index

Sounding gong marks 20th anniversary AMX-Index

Today Euronext celebrates the 20th anniversary of the AMX-Index.

The AMX is the index for mid cap companies listed on Euronext Amsterdam and was launched on 4 October 1995. The index was created to give the mid cap companies more visibility and to help investors to gain better insight in the overall performance of the Dutch mid cap companies. The AMX contains the 25 second most largest and actively traded companies listed on Euronext Amsterdam, and is the most widely used mid cap indicator of the Dutch stock market. The index is tracked by an ETF and leveraged products. Since the beginning of this year the number of outstanding products linked to the AMX-Index has grown with 133%* to 84* and the ETF had an Inflow of assets under management of 3.5* million.

The AMX is calculated in a price and a gross (total) return version as of the start and a net return versions was added to the family in 2010.  All indices were calculated back to 1983 and in this 32 year period the AMX (price) had a yearly performance of 8.6%* and the AMX GR of 12%*.

_{*Percentage and numbers as of end of august 2015}

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SME Innovation top 100

Winner SME Innovation top 100 opens trading

The winner of the SME Innovation top 100, LUXeXcel, visits Beursplein 5 and opens trading.

The Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the Financiële Telegraaf, has published the ranking of one hundred specific innovations of  Dutch SME’s. Hundred SME’s have been implementing innovative concepts in their products, services or business. With these innovations, entrepreneurs have raised their turnover, have secured their continuity of business or have improved their existing products.  

LUXeXcel was ranked first for its innovational concept of producing optical lenses through 3D printing. The concept of LUXeXcel is  found revolutionary by scientists worldwide. The lenses are not traditionally produced in layers, but with UV light.

For more information: www.mkbinnovatietop100.nl

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Haitong Bank

Euronext assina MOU com Haitong Bank S.A.

A Euronext assinou um Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) com o Haitong Bank S.A. com o objectivo de reforçar o papel e a actividade do banco enquanto membro do mercado português e, de forma mais ampla, nos restantes mercados Euronext. Com este protocolo, as duas partes irão identificar, em particular, oportunidades na área de admissões e de desenvolvimento conjunto de produtos e serviços.

Done Hedge Fund

Done Hedge Fund celebrates 3 year anniversary

Done Hedge Fund celebrates its 3 year anniversary by sounding the gong. The fund has achieved a performance of +43.8% net of fees since its inception in October 2012. This corresponds to an annualized net performance of +12.6%. Iain Somers sounds the gong accompanied by the Done Hedge Fund team.

Done Hedge Fund is a creative market neutral arbitrage fund with a main focus on European stock markets. The fund aims for double digit positive returns with single digit volatility, regardless the direction of the markets. Since the start of the fund, 90% of the months have been positive. This is the consequence of the strong interaction between solid risk management and the extensive experience of the management team.

For more information: www.done.nl

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Hovione

Hovione rings the closing bell to celebrate the listing of €40 million in Bonds

To celebrate the listing of €40 million in bonds, Hovione rang the Closing Bell. He was accompanied by management team, along with the Euronext team. Hovione is a Pharmaceutical Company dedicated to helping Pharmaceutical Customers bring new and off-patent drugs to market.

Proximus

Proximus successfully lists a €500 million bond issue on Euronext Brussels

Euronext Brussels today welcomed the listing of an institutional bond issue by Proximus, the largest telecommunication group in Belgium. To celebrate the new listing, Sandrine Dufour, Chief Financial Officer of Proximus, rang the bell to open trading on Euronext’s markets.

The 10-year Proximus institutional bonds are admitted to listing on Euronext Brussels with a total issued amount of €500 million. The issue was very well received with an order book in excess of €2.2 billion (more than four times oversubscribed) and was placed with more than 125 European institutional investors. The coupon stands at 1.875%, and is the lowest coupon ever paid by Proximus. The operation was jointly conducted by BNP Paribas, ING Bank, J.P. Morgan, Crédit Agricole CIB and Lloyds Bank.

Formerly known as Belgacom, Proximus is a telecommunications company operating in the Belgian and international markets. With brands such as Proximus, Skynet, Scarlet and Telindus, Proximus Group is the leading national provider of telephony, internet, television and network-based ICT services.

Proximus is listed on Euronext with the trading symbol “PROX”.

To know more about the issuer: www.proximus.com

Arcadis

Arcadis celebrates 20-year listing anniversary

Arcadis (ticker symbol: ARCAD) sounds the opening gong at Euronext Amsterdam. This marks 20 years of trading and the launch of its new single brand, signaling strengthened global positioning in response to changing client needs.

The leading Design & Consultancy firm for natural and built assets, recently unveiled their new, refreshed brand identity with which it will now go to market globally under one brand.  This brand launch follows two years of investment in joining up 28,000 people in a single operating model which enables Arcadis to bring its very best knowledge and technical expertise to clients wherever they need help. The new brand will be adopted across the 70 countries in which Arcadis operates.

For more information: www.arcadis.com  

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A Sister’s Hope

A Sister’s Hope opens trading to mark breast cancer month

A Sister’s Hope opens trading by sounding the gong to mark the start of October breast cancer month. Throughout October, several activities aim to raise awareness around breast cancer. 

A Sister's Hope was the first non-profit organization in The Netherlands dedicated solely to raising money for breast cancer research and remains the only organization in The Netherlands with that pure focus. More than 4.5 million euro has been given to researchers since 2007.

For more information: www.asistershope.org

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ACI Belgium 60th anniversary

ACI Belgium celebrates 60th anniversary

To celebrate the 60^th anniversary of ACI Belgium, Franck Goethals, Consultant Social Events at ACI Belgium, rang the opening Bell on Euronext Brussels in the presence of its members.

ACI Belgium is part of ACI The Financial Market Association,  covering the world’s wholesale financial markets.

For more information on ACI Belgium: www.acibelgium.be

Top Woman of the Year

Top Woman of the Year sounds gong

Annemieke Nijhof, CEO of Tauw Group, has been named Top Woman of the Year 2015 and celebrates the title by sounding the gong.

With the election, The Top Woman of the Year Foundation wants to give female talent the attention they deserve. It offers successful women a platform to be visible and to be able to act as role models for other women.

Annemieke Nijhof is praised by the jury because of her choice for challenges, her courage and connective leadership style steered her organization through difficult crisis years. It has convinced the jury she is a role model and inspiring example for young women - and men - and not just within her own organization, says jury president Pamela Boumeester.

For more information: www.topvrouwvanhetjaar.nl

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Zenitel 50th anniversary

Zenitel celebrates 50th anniversary on Euronext Brussels

To celebrate the 50^th anniversary of Zenitel, Eugene Beckers, Chairman of the Board of Directors rang the Opening Bell on Euronext Brussels on 29 September 2015 in the presence of the management of Zenitel. Zenitel specializes in the development, manufacturing and marketing of audio and data communication systems and networks.

Zenitelis listed on Euronext Brussels with the trading symbol : ZENT

Pan-European IR Conference

Gong marks start fourth Pan-European IR Conference

The start of the fourth Pan-European IR Conference is marked by the traditional sounding of the gong.

The event is organised by the Investor Relations Associations of Belgium (BIRA), France (CLIFF), the Netherlands (NEVIR) and Portugal (FIR) and takes place at Beursplein 5.

This event is meant for IR professionals who want to share insights with IR thought leaders and who want to connect with European IR professionals from across the continent. Roeland Haanen, chairman of the NEVIR, sounds the gong.

For more information: www.european-ir-conference.com

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