The Pan-Slovenian Investors' & Shareholders'Association (VZMD) congratulates Mr. Ludvik Topak, President of the VZMD Expert Council, for the national decoration Golden Order for Merits, awarded to him on Statehood Day by the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Borut Pahor, for exceptional contribution to democratization and independence of Slovenia, and its international and academic recognition.

The high-profile international conference entitled 'A New Era of Investor Protection, Sustainability & Pension Reforms', organized by the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) and the Greek Association of Investors (HELINAS), took place last week in Athens. Over 250 participants attended the event with numerous presentations, speeches, and panels regarding the establishment of the capital markets union, promoting self-confidence and protection of investors, major reforms and investment projects in Greece, sustainable finances and investment strategies, as well as the role of the Pan-European Personal Pension Product (PEPP).

The conference was attended by, among others, Christos Staikouras, the Greek Minister of Finance; Kostis Hatzidakis, the Minister of Labor and Social Affairs; Adonis Georgiadis, the Minister of Development and Investments; Fausto Parente, the Executive Director of the Board of Supervisors of the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA); Natasha Cazenave, the Executive Director of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA); Rainer Riess, the Director General of the Federation of European Securities Exchange (FESE); Guillaume Prache, the Managing Director of BETTER FINANCE; and John Kyriakopoulos, the president of HELINAS. The VZMD President, Kristjan Verbič, spoke to numerous notable participants at the event. Just the day before the conference at the General Assembly of BETTER FINANCE, Mr. Verbič had been elected into the Executive Board for the fifth mandate. The association houses almost 5 million individual investors and 40 national associations of shareholders and investors. 

Alongside the General Assembly of BETTER FINANCE and the International Investor Conference, Athens also hosted the meetings of both the previous and newly-elected Executive Board and the Legal Affairs Committee of BETTER FINANCE, a banquet for the conference participants, numerous informal meetings and talks, as well as a rich cultural program in the ever spectacular city of Athens and its vicinity. Similarly to the last year's meeting of BETTER FINANCE in Slovenia (VIDEO: undefined), the event provided many opportunities to present the investment activities, and possibilities included in the VZMD's business-investor programs: investo.si and investo.international.

www.vzmd.si – More on the VZMD – PanSlovenian Shareholders' Association

www.vzmd.tv and www.investo.tv – Over 300 videos from VZMD.TV and investo.tv

www.investo.si – More on the investo.si – Invest to Slovenia Program

www.investo.international – More on the network of 75 national organizations of shareholders and investors

At the General meeting of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) which took place last week in Athens, the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, was elected into the Executive board of this influential European association for the fifth mandate. The association brings together almost 5 million individual investors and 40 national associations of shareholders and investors. The voting meeting was followed by an inaugural session of the Executive board immediately after, which named Jella Benner-Heinacher, currently the director of the German Investors' Association (DSW), as President of BETTER FINANCE, while Axel Kleinlein of the German association Bund der Versicherten (BdV) and the incumbent president of BETTER FINANCE, Jean Berthon of the French association FAIDER, became Vice-Presidents of BETTER FINANCE.

The meeting of the European Federation of Investors and Financial Services Users (BETTER FINANCE) started today in Athens. Also taking place at the meeting are the elections into the Executive board of BETTER FINANCE and the International Investor Conference entitled »A New Era of Investor Protection, Sustainability & Pension Reforms«. The VZMD President and the current member of the Executive board of BETTER FINANCE, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, is also visiting Athens and had already attended some of the meetings and talks, including the meeting with John Kyriakopoulos, the president of the Greek Association of Investors – Helinas. The latter (in the picture) is the host and co-organizer of this conference, the first one after the last year's conference and annual meetings prepared by VZMD in Bled (VIDEO: https://youtu.be/JoaQyqZlVwg).   

Last month, after an unwelcome hiatus that lasted over two years, another in a 14-year and ever intense series of tours of the international business-investor programs of the Pan-Slovenian Investors' & Shareholders' Association (VZMD): Invest to Slovenia - investo.si & International Investors' Network - investo.international, was held. The tour took the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič, to various conferences, receptions, and meetings that took place in Belgium, Monaco, Ireland, and United Kingdom.

Last Friday, London saw the conclusion of another in a series of VZMD's tours of the business-investor programs: Invest to Slovenia – investo.si and International Investors` Network – investo.international, which took the VZMD President to Ghent, Brussels, Monaco, Dublin, and Cork in the span of three weeks. In the final week, Mr. Verbič attended the ninth forum of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) called 'Next Generation Manager Forum 2022' which took place in the immediate vicinity of the famous Piccadilly Circus. The thematically rich forum serves as a hub where many high-profile representatives in consultants of various investors, managers, and financial companies share their experience and views.

Last week, the Irish city of Cork, known also as the headquarters of multinational corporations like Apple, Amazon, IBM, etc., hosted the Annual congress of the European Business Angel Network (EBAN), this time around under the title 'Reconnect, Reimagine, Reinvest'. In just two days, more than 330 prominent participants attended the biggest international event of business angels in Europe. After two years, the Congress again took place with direct participation and in light of reconnecting the investors, business angels, and entrepreneurs with new initiatives and projects. The participants attended various workshops, listened to renowned speakers, as well as the pitching presentations of projects and ideas of businesses seeking start-up capital.

Monaco is currently hosting the prestigious international financial forum called "IMpower - Incorporating FundForum", organized by Informaconnect, where numerous decision-makers and highest representatives of institutional investors, funds, asset managers, financial experts etc. are discussing the situation in the global investment market.

Ghent, Belgium, hosted a meeting of the Executive Board of the World Federation of Investors (WFI) last week where they discussed the reports and activities of individual national members, the impact of listing new securities, the role of financial intermediaries in the CSD on EU level, educating investors, the progress made in the democratization process of shareholding and the case of Sweden's amazing growth of individual shareholding (3 million new securities 'savings' accounts), the evolution of cryptocurrencies, the legal actions and settlements in the case of Volkswagen, and the preparations for the General Assembly of this major and influential international organization that goes back more than 50 years. As a member of the Executive Board of the WFI, the President of VZMD, Mr. Kristjan Verbič also attended the meeting. He arrived at Ghent a day earlier to show up for the evening reception and dinner that was held at the La Concorde private club by Dr. Jean-Pierre Paelinck, the President and the Secretary General of the WFI.

VZMD directed a further protest to the Securities Market Agency (ATVP) against the inadmissible regulatory pressure and pretend ignorance of the ATVP director. This is a response to the ATVP director Anka Čadež's letter from January with which she responded to the previous open call and protest of VZMD against the harsh and inadmissible pressure on the civil society organization of minority shareholders. After carefully examining the director's response, VZMD reached the conclusion that as far as the key question is concerned – the problematic actions of the Slovene financial market intermediaries – her response was entirely vague and did not provide any specific explanation whatsoever; as far as her specific explanations are concerned, i.e. regarding the ATVP actions against VZMD, they have been, unfortunately, misleading and explicitly inconsistent with the actual situation.

After the Registry court entered the decision to squeeze out the Mercator minority shareholders into the court register (VIDEO: undefined), VZMD has already filed a motion to stay the proceedings, as well as the appeal at the District Court in Ljubljana. Namely, VZMD is challenging the decision – reached by the majority shareholder FORTENOVA GRUPA, d.d. (90.005%) for itself – at the Court; consequently, the decision could not be entered into the court register until the Court of First Instance reached a decision regarding the so-called breaking of the registry lock. Upon Mercator's proposal, the Court of First Instance weighed on whether the entry applicant would incur damages due to the registry lock, the significance of the lodged appeals on the rights of the minority shareholders, and the probability of a successful outcome of the plaintiffs' legal actions. "In her decision, the judge Melita Štefančič completely ignored the Council Regulation (EU) 2022/428 of 15 March 2022, which prohibits direct and indirect participation in any transaction for the benefit of the companies under direct or indirect control of the Russian state which is, in this case, incontrovertible," pointed out the VZMD President, Mr. Kristjan Verbič.

According to the Croatian media reports, the Russian, predominantly state bank SBERBANK has increased its equity interest in FORTENOVA GRUPA, d.d., to 44 %, and together with the other Russian, predominantly state bank VTB (7,5 % share) now owns more than half of the company. The Russian banks, majority owned by the Russian Federation, therefore control one of the largest corporations in southeastern Europe, whose major part is also MERCATOR, d.d. And in this company, FORTENOVA GRUPA has reached a decision to squeeze out the minority shareholders which has just been entered into the commercial register, even after VZMD requested a temporary injunction order.