Citigold to list shares on DIFX on March 19

Dubai: Citigold Corporation (Citigold), which controls Australia's richest goldfield, has announced that it has received approval to list its shares on the Dubai International Financial Exchange (DIFX).

It will be the first company from the East Asia/Pacific region to list on DIFX and the first Australian firm to look at accessing the region's pool of liquidity through a second stock exchange listing of its shares.

Citigold will be the second gold miner to list on the DIFX following the tier-one gold miner, Gold Fields of South Africa, last November.

Citigold will also be the first gold company to list its ordinary shares. This is expected to enhance liquidity and has only recently been made possible with the help of Computershare registry services, which has established a real-time back office settlement link with DIFX.

The shares that trade on DIFX will be the same pool of shares that trade on the Australian market.

The Dubai time zone, being six hours behind Australian Eastern Standard Time, means that the DIFX opens at 5.45pm Australia time. This effectively extends the trading day for CTO shares.

The shares will be listed on March 19 and trading will begin the same day. The successful approval for this secondary listing on the DIFX followed a rigorous application process.

Regulatory alliance

The DIFX's international standard regulatory framework was acknowledged in September 2006 with the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and the Dubai Financial Services Authority (DFSA), the regulator of DIFX.

This agreement will enhance the supervision of cross-border transactions and help strengthen the international network or securities regulators.

Mark Lynch, Managing Director, Citigold, said: "The board believes that this listing will allow petrodollar liquid investors, who have strong cultural links with gold, to add Australian gold shares to their investment portfolios. This liquidity helped the Dubai gold industry to record almost $20 billion worth of sales during 2006."

"Dubai, known as the City of Gold, imported nearly 500 tonnes of gold in 2006 and has the highest concentration of jewellery shops anywhere in the world.

"Dubai serves as an entry point for physical gold moving to India, the Middle East and Central Asia," he added.

The Australian Trade Commission estimates that about 15,000 Australians are working in the UAE.