Pan-European exchange will include Ireland

The Irish Stock Exchange (ISE)will be part of any pan-European stock market that may emerge from discussions next week between officials of the bigger European markets, ISE managing director Mr Tom Healy has stated.

"We have already been invited to come on board and we expect to get formal proposals on the pan-European exchange in the new year," said Mr Healy. He added that the pan-European exchange was likely to include about 300 European blue-chip companies and would operate in tandem with domestic stock markets.

He said that while market capitalisation would be a significant factor in deciding which companies would be listed on the pan-European exchange, investors would also expect the proposed exchange to include companies from a variety of sectors and from a wide number of countries. "Otherwise Britain and Germany would make up most of the exchange," he said.

Plans for the pan-European exchange were given a major boost yesterday when the Paris Bourse invited the heads of stock exchanges in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Madrid, Milan, Stockholm and Zurich to talks next week on "the steps and conditions needed to create a unifying and competitive pan-European equity market".

Previously Paris had proposed a network of European markets which would compete directly with a planned joint market between London and Frankfurt.

At this stage, it is difficult to gauge how many Irish companies would be listed on the pan-European market. But, given the likely criteria of market capitalisation, a wide sectoral spread and geographical diversity, it seems likely that most of the Irish companies worth more than £1 billion would make a case for membership. At the moment, just seven Irish public companies would make the cut - AIB, Bank of Ireland, CRH, Elan, Kerry, Smurfit, Irish Life.