Photo: Skopje, Macedonia Stock exchange
Skopje's small stock exchange operates every
day.
“Macedonian workers will no
longer face pressure from a
manager to forfeit their
shareholder rights.”
- Melica Gjorgieva, Legal
Department Head in the
Ministry of Economy
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Initiative
USAID’s Macedonia Financial Sector
Strengthening Project was already bringing
together senior government officials to design
reforms to the Macedonian stock market and
other critical financial institutions. Leaders within
this group concurred that the loss of value to
thousands of citizens constituted an abuse that
had to be remedied.
Simultaneously, USAID’s Corporate Governance
and Company Law (CGCL) Project assisted the
Government of Macedonia to draft a new
Company Law. In less than sixty days, CGCL
presented the issue to the drafting committee and
Parliament passed an amendment to the
Company Law.
Results
In the months following the new law’s
amendment, shareholders recovered the right to
sell shares with a nominal value of approximately
$12 million, a significant figure in the context of
Macedonia’s capital markets. Furthermore, board
of director members, the management team, and
supervisory boards of companies in Macedonia
are now prohibited from being beneficiaries of
agreements to transfer voting rights. This
enormously reduces the motive for management
to pressure employees to forfeit their shareholder
rights.
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