News: Zagreb Stock Exchange acquired an additional stake in the Macedonian Stock Exchange

Zagreb Stock Exchange became the largest shareholder of the Macedonian Stock Exchange
 
July 8, 2022, Zagreb - Zagreb Stock Exchange (ZSE) acquired an additional stake in the Macedonian Stock Exchange (MSE) and became the largest shareholder with a 21.99% stake.

The first stake of 5.3% was acquired by the Zagreb Stock Exchange at the end of 2019.

It was the second acquisition of a stake in some regional stock exchange by the Zagreb Stock Exchange, after ZSE acquired 100% ownership of the Ljubljana Stock Exchange in 2015 from the Vienna Stock Exchange.

During 2021, the stake in the Macedonian Stock Exchange was increased to 7.06% of ownership, and through June of this year on two occasions to 17.05%. All transactions were financed with the Zagreb Stock Exchange's own resources. In addition, the Macedonian regulator gave consent to the Zagreb Stock Exchange to acquire up to 30% of the shares.

The Zagreb Stock Exchange and the Macedonian Stock Exchange have been cooperating very successfully for many years on the exchange of knowledge and experience, intensively since 2014, when SEE Link d.o.o. Skopje was founded together with the Bulgarian Stock Exchange, in which three stock exchanges share equal ownership. Cooperation was intensified in 2019, when the Macedonian Stock Exchange signed an exclusive cooperation agreement with the Croatian company Funderbeam South-East Europe d.o.o. (Funderbeam SEE), in which the Zagreb Stock Exchange has 30% ownership, and is a part of the Estonian Funderbeam Group, which manages a platform for financing startups. The goal is to present local companies with opportunities to raise capital through this innovative platform with the aim of further developing their business and maturing to the stage of potential listing on the Macedonian Stock Exchange.

The Zagreb and Macedonian Stock Exchanges are also signatories to an agreement on cooperation in the field of education, and Macedonian companies also participate in investment conferences organized by the Zagreb Stock Exchange independently or in cooperation with the Ljubljana Stock Exchange.

We have a long history of high-quality cooperation with the Macedonian Stock Exchange, and we wish to deepen this cooperation to our mutual satisfaction in order to provide greater visibility to the regional market and our companies, said Ivana Gažić, President of the Zagreb Stock Exchange.