A logical next step

OMHex, the Swedish-Finnish exchange, announced the takeover of the Lithuanian stock exchange a week ago. It already controls stock exchanges of the other two Baltic states – Latvia and Estonia. “This is a logical next step in the integration of the Nordic and Baltic securities market”, said Magnus Bocker, Chief Executive of OMHex. OM, which operates the Stockholm exchange, and Hex, which operates that of Helsonki merged in May 2003, raising hopes that soon the whole norther region would become one, cutting trading costs and boosting the development of financial markets.