On Thursday, 8 April 2021, the Ljubljana Stock Exchange hosted an online webinar: ’’Listing of ETFs on Ljubljana Stock Exchange’’ via the GoToWebinar platform. The event is extremely important for both the Ljubljana Stock Exchange and the Slovene capital market due to the fact that more financial products on the marketr- mean higherappeal for the investors,

The event, which was moderated by Mrs Karmen Pogorevc, Head of Business Development, Ljubljana Stock Exchange, was attended by:

• Mr Aleš Ipavec, President of the Management Board, Ljubljana Stock Exchange,
• Mr Nikolay Vassilev, CFA, Managing partner, Expat Capital
• Mr Myhajlo Todurov, Chief editor, Financial advisor, VZAJEMCI SKUPINA d.o.o.

5 ETF funds from Expat Capital were listed on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange.

Expat Capital with its licensed wholly owned subsidiary Expat Asset Management, is the largest independent wealth management company in Bulgaria. They offer personalized long-term financial planning strategies which are unique for Bulgaria and the region. Their team of professionals with extensive experience and financial education from 10 countries manage hundreds of individual investment portfolios, 3 mutual funds with global focus, a family of ETFs tracking the performance of stock indices from the CEE region, a fund investing in global artworks, as well as an ETF tracking the price of gold.

Mr. Nikolay Vassilev, CFA, Managing Partner at Expat Capital, stated: »Our whole team at Expat Capital is very happy to list 5 of our 11 ETFs on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange. This is the 4th exchange for us after Sofia, Frankfurt, and London. Among all the “local” exchanges in the countries where we have ETFs, we chose to start from Ljubljana for the following reasons:

• The very friendly and professional team at LJSE
• The positive relationship with KDD (the securities depository)
• Our strong track record with our brokers: InterCapital (market-makers), FIMA, Ilirika
• Our good ties with the financial and business community in Slovenia
• The Slovenian ETF has become our largest by Net Asset Value

We have chosen to list the ETFs for Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, and Bulgaria as these are countries with which Slovenia has strong ties. Our ETFs are very convenient instruments which give passive index exposure to these countries. They are suitable for both institutional and retail investors.«

For this occasion, Mr Aleš Ipavec, President of the Management Board of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange, stated: »Listing of ETFs on Ljubljana Stock Exchange is a very important event for the Slovenian Capital Market, namely for several years we have been striving to bring listed funds back to the Ljubljana Stock Exchange and today we can proudly present them. We are honoured, that Expat Capital has chosen Ljubljana as its next destination after two established markets – Frankfurt and London. This is an additional confirmation that the Ljubljana Stock Exchange is recognized in the international financial environment as a credible institution with regulated legal order, established trading system – Xetra, and the euro as the currency. ETFs are very popular in the world, so I believe that they will also contribute to the development of the domestic capital market, especially we have in mind retail investors, whom the funds are primarily intended for.«

The event was well-attended, as more that 160 people registered.

For all of you who missed the event, the recording is available on our YouTube channel.