24th May 2006 07:01
Avarae Global Coins PLC24 May 2006 'AVARAE GLOBAL COINS plc' FIRST DAY OF DEALINGS UK's first investment fund dedicated to investment in coins set to introduce investors to the World of 'Numismatics' London: 24 May 2006 - Specialist investment company dedicated to the coincollecting sector, Avarae Global Coins Plc ("Avarae" or "the Company") ispleased to announce its admission to AIM ("Capital Admission"). The Companyissued 40,000,000 new shares on Admission at 12.5p to raise £5.0million and willtrade under the symbol AVR. Avarae is a recently formed investment company, which aims to achieve long-termcapital growth through the purchase, holding and sale of high quality and rarecoins. The capital raised will provide Avarae with the funds to invest activelyin the coin-collecting sector and to build a portfolio of rare coins from aroundthe world. Coins held in the portfolio will typically be purchased for pricesranging from a few hundred pounds to £750,000, although the Company will not belimited to a particular size of investment. Avarae intends to build a portfolio of coins both to hold in the long-term (morethan one year) and to enable it to take advantage of short-term tradingopportunities (less than one year). Individual coins may be acquired boththrough private contacts and at auctions. The Company notes the increasing investment interest in the coin collectionsector in recent years, which it claims is a result of a growing awareness ofcoins as an investment class, the ability to diversify and the recognition byinvestors of the opportunity to achieve attractive returns through suchinvestments. As a result of these factors, in many cases there have recentlybeen significant gains in the value of high quality private coin collections. Coins as an investment Coins tend to appreciate steadily over time, and historically, over theshort-term, some coin collections have produced a compound annual return of morethan 10 per cent. However, since the 1950s a number of long-term coincollections have achieved compound annual returns of up to 11.4 per cent. As an example, in May 2003, the 'Slaney Collection of English coins' set a newworld record for English silver coins. A selection of 50 coins were acquired inthe 1940s and 1950s for a total cost of £2,350 and sold for a total of £460,000,approximately 195 times the original cost. Commenting on the market, Brian Hatton, Executive Director of Avarae said: "As an alternative investment class to equities and property, an investment incoins can provide another form of diversification for investors, particularly inperiods of high capital market volatility, low interest rates and comparativelylow property yields. "Then there is the historical interest associated with coins, many scarce andrare, and largely unappreciated. With stamps, a collector's prize asset may dateback as far as 1840, but with coins, we can journey back to the Greek and Romanperiods, and long before that." Managing the Portfolio The Avarae Board - which consists of Executive Directors, Brian Hatton and NeilOrders and Non-Executive Director, Robert Eijkelhof - has engaged the highlyexperienced Noble Investments (UK) Plc ("Noble") to act as numismatic adviser tothe Company, advising on coin purchases and its resultant portfolio. Mr Eijkelhof, experienced in the coin-collecting sector, will be responsible forevaluating investment opportunities in conjunction with Noble and the otherDirectors. The Board will also make use of an advisory panel (independent ofboth Avarae and Noble), constituting David Pinckney and The Rt Honourable SirJohn Wheeler J.P DL. The advisers will act as consultants to the Company andwill provide opinions on investment recommendations made by Noble. In conclusion, Mr Hatton said: "We are delighted to have raised this initial tranche of funding and to bejoining AIM. The coin-collecting sector is growing all the time, attractinginterest from investment professionals, including banks and IFAs, high net worthindividuals and coin collectors. For those that are prepared to take a medium tolong-term view, who are looking to diversify their portfolio and who perhapsshare a passion for coins, Avarae should prove an attractive alternative. Weanticipate strong interest." Admission and Subscription statistics • Subscription price per ordinary share: 12.5p • Number of Subscription shares issued: 40,000,000 • Gross proceeds of the Subscription: £5.0 million • Number of ordinary shares in issue on Admission: 53,333,334 • Available cash resources upon Admission: approximately £4.9 million • Net asset value per share on Admission: 9.2p • Market capitalisation on Admission: £6.67 million - ENDS - For further information, please contact: Lauren Stewart/Gordon Puckey Phoenix Financial PR Managing Director +44 (0) 207 947 2857 / 6 Noble Investments (UK) Plc +44 ()) 207 190 7285 OR The Rt Honourable Sir John Wheeler J.P DL/Brian Hatton Avarae Global Coins PLC +44 (0) 1624 631 692 NOTES TO EDITORS 1. Avarae Global Coins Plc ("Avarae" or "the Company") Avarae is a recently formed strategic investment company, whose strategy is toachieve long-term capital growth for its Shareholders through the purchase,holding and collection of coins from around the world. Avarae was incorporated in the Isle of Man to reflect the fact that itsshareholder base is international in nature and resident in a number of taxjurisdictions. Directors: Brian Hatton, Executive Director; Neil Christopher Orders, ExecutiveDirector; Robert Albertus Franciscus Eijkelhof, Non-Executive Director. Biographies of all Directors and both members of the Advisory Panel areavailable on request. Nominated Adviser and Broker to the Company: Daniel Stewart & Company Plc. 2. Noble Investments (UK) Plc ("Noble") Formed in 2003, Noble Investments is the only rare-coin trading company quotedon AIM and the largest dedicated company of its type in its sector in the UK. Noble generates its revenue through numismatics - the science of studying money.The Company invests in coins itself, but also provides assessment and saleservices to clients, including auctions. Noble purchased AH Baldwin & Sons and Baldwin's Auctions in November last year.Today, the Company has a wide range of global connections and is able to offer aprofessional opinion on coins minted in almost any country over the past 2,500years. 3. The Coin dealing sector The market for trading coins is international in nature and significant in size.The rare coins market has performed strongly of late, as a result of the growinginterest in and popularity of alternative investments. Provided sufficient due diligence is undertaken prior to the purchasing ofindividual coins or portfolios of coins, such investments can offer theopportunity for attractive returns. The market is, by nature, supply constrainedand should demand for coins continue to grow, this imbalance should supportrising prices over the medium to long term. The coin-collecting sector is fragmented and includes a number of private andprofessional collectors as well as investors, dealers and auction houses. TheDirectors of Avarae consider that the fragmented market provides opportunitiesfor the Company to establish a valuable collection of coins, with the addedpossibility of expanding the operations of the Company by way of acquisitions inthe sector. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
AVR.L