ICU LAUNCHES GLOBAL EQUITY INDEX FUND INVESTING IN ETFS

ICU, the leading Ukrainian asset manager and government bond broker, has today announced the launch of ICU Global Equity Index, a closed qualified mutual investment fund with an issue size of UAH 130 million. In early March the National Securities and Stock Market Commission (NSSMC) of Ukraine confirmed the fund complied with the asset size requirements.

Through the ICU Global Equity Index Fund, local private and institutional investors can invest in  Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) of various sectors of the economy, in particular, NASDAQ and S&P 500, as well as other indices including gold, health, consumer and Asian companies.

The fund's strategy is to achieve a higher level of profit compared to the leading global index S&P 500, which includes shares of the most successful American companies.

Grigoriy Ovcharenko, Head of Asset Management, ICU Group commented: "We have been seeing a lot of demand from investors to invest in foreign instruments, so we decided to expand our offering by adding an index fund in foreign currency to meet client demand. With significant track-record in trading in international markets, ICU offers investors to invest in international financial instruments through a Ukrainian fund.”

“The fund's retrospective results for the last 15 years (including crisis periods) more than doubled the benchmark - the yield of the S&P 500, proofing the strategy’s effectiveness,” Grigoriy added.

In 2020 ICU was named Best Asset Management Company by Global Banking & Finance Review. It was also recognized as the best asset management company in the CEE region from International Investor magazine.

About ICU

ICU is an independent asset management and investment advisory firm specialising in the emerging markets of Central and Eastern Europe.

Founded in 2006 by senior investment professionals from ING, ICU is Ukraine's leading asset manager with over $500m in assets under management. Our current strategy includes significant allocations to venture capital and distressed debt.

Our veteran investment team has experience in private equity & venture capital, high yield corporate debt, distressed debt, restructurings and other special situations across a number of emerging markets. Investment decisions are supported by robust macroeconomic and sectoral analyses from our in-house team of research economists.

We aim to provide our clients with superior risk-adjusted returns across a number of asset classes. The firm is expanding its reach into key European markets via a combination of organic growth and acquisition and continues to expand the range its investment offerings.

Makar Paseniuk and Konstantin Stetsenko are founding partners of ICU.