Trade To Black Podcast: NEO Exchange Facilitates Index Eligibility For U.S. Cannabis Operators
On this episode of TDR’s Trade to Black Podcast, we speak with NEO Exchange Chief Revenue Officer, Erik Sloane. TDR recently caught up with Mr. Sloane at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago, where he was a panelist on Enabling Institutional Investment into US MSOs fireside chat conducted at the venue.
One of focus points of the discussion is centered around the Cboe Global Markets recent acquisition of NEO Exchange (Aequitas Innovations, Inc.), closed on June 1, 2022. The deal, originally announced on November 15, 2021, sought to broaden Cboe’s exposure to the Canadian capital markets and drive additional trading activity on its exchanges. Contrary to public perception, Cboe (Chicago Board Options Exchange) is more than just an ‘options’ clearinghouse—its provides trading solutions and products in multiple asset classes, including equities, derivatives and FX worldwide.
By uniting with one of the world’s premier financial exchange powerhouses, the NEO Exchange is leveraged to expand its suite of listing, trading and market data solutions. By way of its Tier-1 stock exchange designation in Canada, NEO Exchange can also facilitate access to index fund inclusion for qualified companies, which occurred last November following Columbia Care’s inclusion in the MSCI Canada Small Cap Index. Erik Sloane:
We’re actually a Tier-1 stock exchange in Canada. ‘Tier-1’, ‘Senior’, ‘Main Board’—they all mean the same thing. It means more rules, tighter regulations and restrictions for public companies. It means disclosure. For us, we’ve had that at NEO since Day 1. And we’ve been gradually showing ‘The Street’ through examples, and some of the greatest ones we’ve got are MSOs listed on NEO like Columbia Care, where they’ve held up to those standards, seen that track & progression occur. And in November—this past year—they actually were the first U.S. cannabis MSO to make it into the MSCI Canada Small Cap Index benchmark.
As the only senior & Tier 1 stock exchange for U.S. based plant-touching cannabis issuers, expect the NEO Exchange to compete for additional new and existing listings as synergies unlocked through its union with Cboe Global Markets gains further recognition.
Click on the embedded link to view more of this TTB podcast with NEO Exchange Chief Revenue Officer, Erik Sloane, in his own words.
To view our previous Trade To Black Podcast, click here.