Nasdaq launches new Copenhagen index to reflect DONG, Nets IPOs

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Stock exchange operator Nasdaq (NASDAQ: NDAQ) will replace Denmark's main C20 CAP index with a new index of 25 companies to reflect a higher market capitalization and turnover following two of the world's biggest IPOs in Copenhagen this year.

The new C25 CAP will be launched on Dec. 19 and is due to replace Denmark's largest index C20 CAP <.OMXC20CAP> 12 months later, Nasdaq said in a statement Friday.

"Thanks in part to a string of large cap listings since 2010, and with Nets and DONG Energy among this year's global top three IPOs, the Danish stock market has near-doubled in market capitalization and equity turnover since 2012," Nasdaq Copenhagen Chief Executive Bjorn Sibbern said.

"This change should be reflected in a fundamental way," Sibbern said.

The number of large cap company shares on the Copenhagen stock exchange rose to 36 in 2016 from 24 in 2012 and the average daily equity turnover more than doubled to 5.4 billion Danish crowns ($768 million) from 2.4 billion in the same period, according to Nasdaq.

The C20 CAP has a market capitalization of 2.34 trillion crowns ($333 billion), Reuters data showed.

Two of the largest listings in the world this year were Danish companies: utility and wind farm developer DONG Energy and payment processor Nets .

DONG Energy was valued at 98 billion crowns when it listed in June while Nets reached 30 billion crowns in September.

Nasdaq announced this week that DONG Energy and Nets would replace Nordea's Danish branch (NASDAQ: NDA) and mining equipment and service provider FLSmidth (NYSE: FLS) in the C20 CAP-index from Dec. 19.

Nordea and FLSmidth will however join the new index along with insurance companies Tryg and Topdanmark (NASDAQ: TOP) and cable and industrial cleaning equipment maker NKT Holding (NYSE: NKT), Nasdaq said.

The C25-index will be a capped index consisting of the 25 shares with the highest six-month turnover and the largest free-float adjusted market capitalization.

In 2013, the previous main index, the C20, was replaced by the C20 CAP, because insulin maker Novo Nordisk's shares ended up with a 45 percent weighting in the index. The maximum weighting in the new C25 CAP index will be 20 percent.

The C25-index will have a base value of 1000.

(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard; editing by David Clarke)

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