27th Jun 2007 07:03
Charlemagne Capital Limited27 June 2007 27 June 2007 Charlemagne Capital's Magna Africa Fund reaches €55m in AuM in first 3 months Charlemagne Capital ("Charlemagne") the specialist emerging markets group ispleased to announce that its Magna Africa Fund ("the Fund") has reached €55million in assets under management ("AuM") in the three months since its launch*on 23 March 2007. The Fund has performed strongly over this period, up 13.1% against the benchmarkMSCI Africa • Index which has risen 5.6%. The Fund aims to achieve capital growth by investing in a diversified portfolioof African securities across a variety of markets. The Fund is one of the firstdaily dealing funds in Africa and is managed using Charlemagne's disciplinedbottom-up investment process, exploiting market inefficiencies to selectundervalued companies. The Fund is free to invest in any company and country inAfrica but as a result of a rigorous process designed to control risk andidentify the best prospects, its core holdings are currently focused uponNigeria, Kenya, Egypt, Morocco and South Africa. The Fund has, however, alreadyinvested in Mozambique and Zambia and is pursuing other opportunities inMauritius, Botswana and Ghana. The Fund is invested in financials, telecoms, consumer and commodities.Commodities account for only 27% of the Fund and do not dominate, contrary tothe conventional wisdom about African investments. There are also a number ofissuances happening in the region, and the Fund participated in an offering inUnited African Bank in Nigeria, which has risen by 25% since April. The Fund is a sub-fund of the Magna Umbrella Fund plc which is an open endedinvestment company. As at 1 June 2007, the Magna range had total AuM of US$1.207billion. The Magna range aims to deliver outperformance of the relevantbenchmark index for each sub-fund via active management. Gabor Sitanyi, Portfolio Adviser to the Fund commented: "We are delighted by theperformance of the Africa Fund and its rapid growth is a reflection of stronginvestor interest in the region. Despite the often held misconception, thelong-term investment case for Africa is very compelling as economic activitybroadens into infrastructure development and growing consumer participation. Weare well positioned to capitalise on the growth in the region." Enquiries Charlemagne Capital 020 7518 2100Gabor Sitanyi / Varda Lotan Smithfield Consultants 020 7360 4900John Kiely / George Hudson / Anne Howalt * Note that the Magna Africa Fund was previously the Magna EMEA Fund which hasbeen converted and renamed. Notes to Editors Charlemagne Capital is a specialist emerging markets group. Charlemagne CapitalLimited was admitted to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange on 4 April2006. Charlemagne's product range comprises mutual funds, hedge funds andinstitutional and specialist fund products primarily covering GEMs, EasternEurope, Latin America and Asia. Charlemagne employs a range of investmentstrategies including: long only, long/short, structured products and privateequity. Charlemagne's funds aim to exploit the inefficiencies in the market viaa strict bottom up approach and focused stock selection. The Magna Umbrella Fund plc is a daily dealing UCITS fund, consisting of ninegeographically focused sub-funds. The OCCO fund range is Charlemagne Capital'shedge fund range, employing a long/short equity strategy to produce consistentabsolute & risk adjusted performance by exploiting inefficiencies in themarkets. The funds have a maximum standard deviation target of 12% p.a. Through the strong long-term investment performance track record of itsprincipal funds, Charlemagne Capital has established itself as a market leaderin emerging markets investment management. Its performance has been recognisedthrough numerous awards and top rankings for its funds, including: the 2005Standard and Poor's 5-year best performing fund award in Austria; the 2006 SwissLipper Leaders 5-year award winner for Emerging Markets Europe; a AA-rating byStandard & Poor's for its Magna Eastern European Fund (a sub-fund of MagnaUmbrella Fund Plc); and it was ranked number one in the LatAm universe in theStandard & Poor's Cash Funds Awards 2007 (Switzerland). This announcement is not for publication or distribution to persons in theUnited States of America, its territories or possessions or to any US person(within the meaning of Regulation S of the US Securities Act of 1933, asamended). Neither this announcement nor any copy of it may be taken ortransmitted into Australia, Canada or Japan or to Canadian persons or to anysecurities analyst or other person in any of those jurisdictions. Any failure tocomply with this restriction may constitute a violation of United States,Australian, Canadian or Japanese securities law. The distribution of thisannouncement in other jurisdictions may be restricted by law and persons intowhose possession this announcement comes should inform themselves about andobserve any such restrictions. This announcement contains certain forward-looking statements with respect tothe financial condition, results of operations and businesses of the CharlemagneCapital Group. These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertaintybecause they relate to events and depend upon circumstances that will occur inthe future. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results ordevelopments to differ materially from those expressed or implied by theseforward-looking statements and forecasts. Nothing in this announcement should beconstrued as a profit forecast. This statement is aimed at providing information regarding the Assets underManagement on which revenue is derived by Charlemagne Capital Limited. Theunaudited data contained in this statement are currently provisional and allsuch data are subject to change. This statement is produced in order to providegreater disclosure to investors and potential investors and to ensure that theyall receive equal access to the same information at the same time. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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