OREANDA-NEWS. Economy Ministry of Russia, the Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimuschestvo) and Moscow Exchange have signed a cooperation agreement to create two new equity market benchmarks, indices of publicly-traded companies where the Russian state has an ownership stake. The document was signed by Deputy Minister of Economic Development Nikolay Podguzov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Rosimuschestvo Head Olga Dergunova and Moscow Exchange Deputy CEO Andrey Shemetov.

The agreement sets out a procedure for the exchange of market data, the assistance of experts and consultants from the parties, and joint events to strengthen economic activities of Russian businesses. 

According to the agreement, the MOEX State-Owned Companies Index and the MOEX Regulated Companies Index, will be established.

The former will comprise shares of Russia"s largest companies for which the Russian government acts as shareholder on behalf of the Russian Federation. 

The MOEX Regulated Companies Index will include shares of natural monopolies included on the corresponding list of the Federal Tariff Service.

Moscow Exchange will calculate the indices on a cum-dividend basis using its own market data. The indices will be market cap weighted. Components and their weightings will be reviewed annually in accordance with recommendations of the Ministry of Economic Development and Rosimuschestvo. Changes will take effect on the first trading day of each calendar year.

The benchmarks will be published on the Moscow Exchange"s website. Their history can be traced back to 30 December 2011. The base value is 1,000.

The creation of the indices is one of the Russian Government"s initiatives aiming to improve quality and transparency of corporate governance at state-owned companies. KPIs including total shareholder return (TSR) have already been introduced. Boards of directors will evaluate TSR taking into account performance of the new indices.