Press Release

BETTER known for horticulture than high finance, the Hawkesbury is fishing for venture capitalists to help launch its own stock exchange. Sydney may regard the region as little more than a sleepy backwater, but Hawkesbury City Council wants to transform it into an ongoing economic powerhouse. The council last week approved a motion to begin investigating a proposed regional exchange, which could allow locals to float the family farm. Local mayor Bart Bassett said a Hawkesbury market would finally put the area's businesses on an equal footing with their city counterparts. "I think it would be a really good psychological shot in the arm for the business community and for the local community in general," Bassett says. In the past, liquidity meant water for the region's livestock and crops, including dairy cattle, horses, fruit, turf and mushrooms. Advertisement: But Stephen Phillips, Hawkesbury City Council's director of commercial strategy, believes the financial version of liquidity would release rivers of cash for commercial expansion. "It's all about trying to create venture capital," Phillips says. "We want to help small and medium-sized enterprises access growth capital." It might seem far-fetched but the idea is not unprecedented. Hawkesbury has the backing of the Newcastle Stock Exchange, which introduced its regional market in 2000. The NSX, which now also incorporates a Bendigo exchange, is working on the first listing of a company of another regional market in Wollongong. Chief executive officer Michael Cox says there may eventually be regional exchanges across the country, including in the further-flung capital cities such as Perth or Hobart. "What we really want is a position where local advisers are working with local businesses and local investors," Cox says. Listing on the Australian Stock Exchange is expensive, and small companies often struggle to attract attention in the company of their larger, more famous counterparts. Michael Cox says local markets can deliver a higher profile more cheaply. "It's easier to fund small to medium-sized enterprises in a region by using investors from that region," he says. Hawkesbury's stock exchange would operate as a division of the NSX, with its own Web pages displaying stock quotes and information. "If local businesses support the idea, then we can do it very quickly," Cox says. The Hawkesbury, home to more than 66,000 residents, has traditionally survived on agriculture but is also home to a growing manufacturing sector, including those aviation-related industries associated with the RAAF base at Richmond.