A Busy Bidder in Germany Highlights Flaws In Neuer Markt's Efforts to Challenge Nasdaq
DUISBURG, Germany -- In Germany's much-vaunted stock exchange known as the Neuer Markt, Sudhir Bhatia is the king of would-be takeovers.</br></br>Since the beginning of the year, he has jolted three companies' stocks higher by announcing bids to buy them. He faxes out his plans to, he says, 600 media organizations, earning himself prominent attention as a serious player in the newly minted stock market.</br></br>But look a little closer and Mr. Bhatia's ventures appear quixotic. His company, Microboss Software AG, is tiny, with sales of $1.3 million last year. His takeover announcements often resemble rambling dissertations. He has misspelled his company's name (as Micorboss) and compared himself to a misunderstood genius. None of the announced bids have been consummated.</br></br>Welcome to the other side of the Neuer Markt, the centerpiece of Germany's effort to build a U.S.-style stock culture.</br></br>During the past four years, the Neuer Markt has brought 349 companies public, spurring hopes that Europe had a budding rival to America's Nasdaq Stock Market. But slumping stock prices have laid bare the exchange's flaws. More than half of its biggest companies lost money last year. Smaller companies are filing for insolvency at a record pace. The shares of about 10% of the companies listed now trade for pennies apiece, making the exchange a haven for speculators and market manipulators, critics say.