The Dutch brewer Heineken Holding reported on January 27: “The first transactions in options on shares in Heineken Holding took place today on the Euronext exchange. Heineken Holding options are being traded alongside the existing options on shares in Heineken N.V. Euronext is introducing the options on Heineken Holding shares to offer shareholders greater choice and additional options for anticipating stock price developments of Heineken and Heineken Holding shares.”

"The introduction of options on Heineken Holding shares removes one of the factors affecting the share's liquidity, and thereby also one of the causes of the discount on Heineken Holding shares in comparison to Heineken N.V. shares,' says Heineken Holding Chairman Mr. M. Das on behalf of the Management Board of Heineken Holding. Mr Das asked Euronext to allow Heineken Holding shares to be listed on one of the stock exchange indexes.

With an average daily volume of more than 100,000 shares, Heineken Holding is one of the most traded shares in the "other funds" category on the Euronext Amsterdam exchange. Heineken N.V. is one of the market's most active shares, with an average daily volume of over 1.8 million shares (2001), and is listed on the AEX index.

The symbol for the new options class is HEH. The market maker handling the transactions is Paerel Trading Partners B.V. The options are American style (exercise allowed at any point during the term), and are available with terms of 3, 6 or 9 months and notification in the cycle January, April, July, October ('jajo'-cycle).

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