Frost & Sullivan Recognizes NLB Skladi for its Robust and Rapid Market Share Increase in the Slovenian Asset Management Market

LONDON, February 1 - Based on its recent research on the asset management market, Frost &
Sullivan presents NLB Skladi, upravljanje premozenja, d.o.o. (NLB Skladi)
with the 2009 Slovenia Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Penetration
Leadership. NLB Skladi is the third largest in total assets under management,
second largest in assets under management if only non-privatization funds are
taken into account and is first in terms of net inflows in NLB Skladi mutual
funds since 2004. Market shares mentioned exclude funds of privatization
origin.

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The asset management industry in Slovenia is relatively small since most
of the savings in the country are parked in bank deposits and the product
line of mutual funds has not developed yet. Funds such as money market, fixed
income and balanced funds are generally not preferred and creating market
awareness still remains a major challenge. Aggressive marketing strategies,
as a part of the market penetration strategy, help in creating market
awareness and providing investor education. The launch of various new
products in order to outperform the competitors and gain the first mover
advantage helps in increasing the product line and depth in the industry.
This, in turn, helps in market development within Slovenia.

"Aggressive media campaigns have helped NLB Skladi maintain its market
presence and reach out to the investors," says Frost & Sullivan research
analyst Kavitha Chakravarthy. "NLB Skladi conducts regular expert talk shows
to educate investors about the various investment products and also utilizes
various marketing channels such as newspapers and television for publicity."

Since its inception in 2004, the company's market share increased from
0.0 percent (in January 2004) to 17.5 percent in October 2009. The market
share in the past three years (December 31, 2006 to October 31, 2009) rose
from 9.6 percent to 17.5 percent. This has enabled NLB Skladi to rise from
seventh position in the Slovenian asset management industry ranking in 2004
to be one among the top three asset management companies by the end of
October 2009.

This tremendous growth can be attributed to NLB Skladi's funds that have
been leading performers in the various mutual fund asset classes. The leading
performing funds in the equity funds segment are NLB Skladi - Globalni
delniski and NLB Skladi - Visoko rastoca gospodarstva delniski in terms of
assets under management and past annual returns respectively as of October
2009. The leading performing funds overall are NLB Skladi - Kombinirani
Globalni and NLB Skladi - Visoko rastoca gospodarstva delniski in terms of
assets under management and past annual returns respectively as of October
2009.

"NLB Skladi has maintained a conservative approach and did not launch
complex products based on derivatives, emerging market growth stories and
complex quantitative techniques," observes Chakravarthy. "This strategy has
paid-off for the company during times of financial crisis."

NLB Skladi could effectively expand its market share from 9.6 percent in
December 2006 to 15.6 percent by the end of 2008. Its market share was 17.5
percent at the end of October 2009. In short, it has not incurred losses in
the ongoing financial crisis and did not resort to employee retrenchment. On
the other hand, the company has expanded its operations by hiring new
employees.

Further, NLB Skladi has been successful in keeping its expense ratio
lower than the industry average, thereby increasing the value provided to its
customer. The average expense ratio of NLB Skladi funds from July 2008 to
June 2009 was 2.25 percent as against an industry average of 2.49 percent
during the same period. The average expense ratio of NLB Skladi's equity
funds in the period starting July 2008 to June 2009 was 2.42 percent as
against an industry average of 2.71 percent during the same period. The
expense ratio of NLB Skladi's bond fund in the period starting July 2008 to
June 2009 was 1.17 percent as against an industry average of 1.61 percent
during the same period. The average expense ratio of NLB Skladi's balanced
funds in the period starting July 2008 to June 2009 was 1.91 percent as
against an industry average of 2.11 percent during the same period.

For these achievements, NLB Skladi is the deserving recipient of the 2009
Slovenia Frost & Sullivan Award for Market Penetration Leadership for asset
management. Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to a company that
has demonstrated excellence in capturing the fastest measured rate of change
of market share within its industry. The award recognizes how fast a company
increases its penetration of a market, in terms of revenues or units as
specified.

Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety
of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and
superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation,
customer service, and strategic product development. Industry analysts
compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth
interviews, analysis, and extensive secondary research in order to identify
best practices in the industry.

About NLB Skladi

NLB Skladi is 100 percent owned by Nova Ljubljanska banka d.d.,
Ljubljana, the largest and one of the leading banks in Slovenia. The company
commenced its business operations on January 1, 2004 and began offering
mutual fund in May 2004. NLB Skladi is one of the three leading asset
management companies in Slovenia.

About Frost & Sullivan

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    Contact:

    Ciara Jamie Connolly, Senior Events & Promotions Executive/ EMEA | Best
     Practices, Frost & Sullivan, ciara.connolly@frost.com
     P: +44-(0)-207-915-7868, F: +44-(0)-207-730-3343, www.frost.com
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Ciara Jamie Connolly, Senior Events & Promotions Executive/ EMEA, Best Practices, of Frost & Sullivan, +44-(0)-207-915-7868, Fax, +44-(0)-207-730-3343, ciara.connolly at frost.com