Interview of Armand Pinarbasi, Grant Thornton Amyot Company’s shareholder Director, to Mediamax agency and Banks.am portal 

International conference on “Capital Markets in Armenia”, organized by Grant Thornton Amyot Company, will take place in Yerevan on February 27. On the eve of the conference, shareholder Director of the Company Armand Pinarbasi answered the questions of Mediamax:

- How was the idea on realizing this conference born?

- The idea was born quite a long time ago. A few years ago our company participated in IPO project of one of Ukrainian banks on London Stock Exchange as a consultant, then we started realizing seminars on capital markets for commercial banks of Armenia. However, at that time Armenian companies technically and morally were not ready to enter capital markets. After the arrival of NASDAQ OMX in Armenia, we realized that it was time to develop the securities market in our country and decided to carry out a large conference. In this undertaking, we received support from NASDAQ OMX Armenia, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Economy of Armenia. Many large companies, which have the potential to enter the capital market, have many questions, related to tools and mechanisms of the market, and the conference is a good opportunity to provide qualified answers.

- The conference will take place in a period, when the influence of the global crisis is slowly but surely approaching Armenia. Do you believe that the global crisis, even only psychologically, may influence the development of the capital market in Armenia? 

- The crisis has one positive side: to come out of the present situation, one should work a lot, seek alternatives and new variants for efficient solution of problems. One should also admit that in our country the capital markets are quite underdeveloped, and from this point of view we have nothing to lose. Moreover, in conditions of a crisis, real opportunities to attract additional funding come up.

- One of the key topics at the conference will be IPO realization in Armenia.

- In 2008, growth of placements was registered on the Exchange; however, they mainly were in the form of bonds. That is to say, Armenian participants of the market try to figure out the field, which is new to them, and, probably, their next step will be IPO. I hope that in 2009 we will witness the first IPO in Armenia.

- The issue of developing corporate management legislation will also be discussed at the conference. Which point from the foreign practice is most applicable for Armenia at the given stage?

- There are countries, where corporate management is of imperative nature; and in certain countries the following principles works: compile or explain. Armenia has not yet determined as to which way to choose. At that, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Economy of Armenia and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development work over elaboration of a guide on “Corporate Management”. It is yet premature talking about whether this will lead to legislative changes. However, this may help understand the intentions of the state on regulating the given sphere. 

- Organization and realization of a conference with participation of foreign experts requires quite volume financial expenses. How is this issue taken care of?

- Besides Grant Thornton Amyot, the Central Bank, the Ministry of Economy, NASDAQ OMX Armenia, AmCham, USAID Financial Sector Deepening Project, Association of Armenian Bank, Marriott Armenia Hotel also participate in organizing the conference. The informational partners of the conference are: Mediamax agency, Capitalmarket.am portal, Business Class and BASIS magazines. Our company took upon itself the larger part of financial expenses; however, the remaining organizers also rendered quite significant assistance.