WOOD’s Winter Wonderland has, once again, taken first place in the prestigious Extel rankings for the Emerging EMEA region, based on votes cast by the companies themselves. The award, which our conference has received repeatedly, is especially meaningful to us this year. At the end of the year, our Winter Wonderland will celebrate its 15th edition.
Fifteen years is a long time in the capital markets – certainly long enough for a one-off event to become a tradition. Over that time, our Winter Wonderland has grown into a platform that brings together the management teams of leading companies from Emerging EMEA with institutional investors from around the world, every year.
However, our Winter Wonderland’s value has never been measured solely by the number of participants or scheduled meetings. From the outset, we wanted to create an environment in which investors could understand companies in a broader context, discuss their strategy directly with management, and gain deeper insight into markets that often remain outside the mainstream of global investment interest.
This is precisely why the Extel recognition matters to us. The results are determined by the companies that participate in our conference, making their assessment an important measure of quality. We see our repeated first-place ranking as confirmation of the trust we have built around our Winter Wonderland over the years, above all.
Fifteen years of relationships that go beyond a single conference
Our anniversary edition is a natural opportunity to look back at how our Winter Wonderland has evolved, while remaining true to the principle on which it was founded: creating a direct link between high-quality companies and long-term capital.
Emerging EMEA is a region offering an exceptional breadth of opportunities. Alongside well-known names, it is home to many ambitious companies with strong management teams and the ability to create value, but may not enjoy the same global visibility as their Western European or US peers. Our role remains to help bridge this information and geographic gap.
Over fifteen years, a community of companies and investors has grown around our Winter Wonderland. They return to Prague regularly, build on earlier discussions, and open up new opportunities for collaboration.
“WOOD’s Winter Wonderland has long been much more than just a conference. For institutional investors focused on Emerging EMEA, it is a major event that helps shape the investment agenda for the year ahead. The conversations that take place in Prague every December often influence how investors view individual companies and the region as a whole,” concludes Zuzana Mora, Co-Head of Equities at WOOD & Company.