FRANKFURT – Frankfurt Stock Exchange operator Deutsche Boerse yesterday said European aerospace giant Airbus, sporting goods brand Puma and online shopping site Zalando are among 10 companies joining an expanded DAX blue-chip index.
From September 20, the index of 30 companies will bring its total membership to 40 firms, becoming the DAX 40.
Other additions include Siemens Healthineers, a subsidiary of the already DAX-listed company Siemens, as well as meal-kit company HelloFresh.
“We are completing the biggest DAX reform in our history, manifesting the DAX as the German Blue Chip index, which will represent a larger spectrum of the German capital market,” said Stephan Flaegel, chief product officer at Deutsche Boerse Group’s subsidiary Qontigo.
With the new additions, including several tech companies, the index will become more “diverse”, said the DAI, a body representing German capital market institutions.
The announcement is the next step in a renewal project launched by Deutsche Boerse last November to align the DAX with “international standards”.
The index suffered a reputational blow after digital payments provider Wirecard admitted to a €1.9 billion (RM9.3 billion) hole in its accounts in June last year, leading to the arrest of top executives on suspicion of fraud.
Wirecard filed for insolvency and its share price plummeted 98% before it was booted off the index, becoming the first DAX-listed company to fail.
New rules aimed at more tightly regulating accession to the DAX will be implemented during the expansion, with the aim of preventing another damaging scandal.
In particular, all companies hoping to join the elite will have to demonstrate an operating profit in the past two years, though the rules will not apply retroactively. – AFP, September 4, 2021
