Bulgaria's central depository has been in touch with its Romanian counterpart to discuss the possibility for co-operation, Bulgarian news agency BTA reported, quoting the chief executive of the Romanian central depository, Adriana Tanasoiu.

Her Bulgarian counterpart, Lyubomir Hristov confirmed the news, saying that the reason for the inquiry was the interest of a Dutch-registered issuer to list on the stock exchanges in Sofia and Bucharest.

According to sources familiar with the matter, the company in question is private equity firm Equest. Officially, Equest Investment Balkans fund plans to restructure into a holding company and delist from the Irish stock exchange by July 2008.

If an agreement is signed, it would allow for cross-border bourse transactions, including joint initial public offerings. Hristov also said that the process would be quick and a link-up between the two depositories could be completed by next month.

The Bulgarian depository is considering a similar agreement with Clearstream, the settlement and clearing subsidiary of Deutsche Boerse, whose network covers 45 markets.