For years, it seemed like a one way bet. Austria’s capital markets – principally the Vienna stock exchange – grew steadily as a source of finance for companies on the back of government policies and the business opportunities presented by political transformation in central and eastern Europe.
Government action, notably the privatisations pushed through after 2000 by Wolfgang Schüssel, chancellor, boosted the bourse from a small and sleepy market into a source of interest for institutional and retail investors alike.
