CCAP.L Regulatory News (CCAP)

30 May 2007 07:01

Charlemagne Capital Limited30 May 2007 30 May 2007 Charlemagne Capital Limited European Convergence Development Company plc to list on AIM Charlemagne Capital ("Charlemagne") the specialist emerging markets equityinvestment management group, which launched and manages the European ConvergenceDevelopment Company plc a company incorporated in the Isle of Man, ("ECDC" or"the Company") today announces ECDC's intention to seek admission to trading ofits shares on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange. Panmure Gordon(Broking) Limited is to act as the Company's Nominated Adviser and Broker to theintended listing. ECDC is a property investment company and was launched in September 2006 with aninitial private fund raising of €30 million. The Company's funds are now over75% committed and it is proceeding with an AIM listing. At the same time, ECDCwill issue shares to institutional investors at €0.95 each raising up to €60million. ECDC's investment strategy is to take advantage of co-development financingopportunities predominantly in Romania and Bulgaria with the ability also toinvest in Turkey, Croatia and Slovakia as opportunities arise. The Companyco-invests in real estate development projects where the developer is alsoco-investing in the project, with targeted IRR's of 35%. The Company's primaryfocus is the residential and retail property arena but it also invests in thecommercial and industrial sectors. The Eastern European property market presents significant growth opportunities.ECDC invests principally in countries that are members of the EU (i.e. Bulgariaand Romania), but which are at a development stage behind that of neighbouringcountries such as Hungary and Poland. Since launch, ECDC has invested in schemesincluding the mixed leisure and retail centre, Galleria Plovdiv in Bulgaria andthe residential complex at Asmita Gardens in Bucharest, Romania. Admission is expected to be on or about 21 June 2007. David Curl, who heads up Charlemagne's private equity and real estate activitiescommented: "ECDC presents a fantastic opportunity to capitalise on the excellentgrowth prospects currently available from investing in real estate developmentprojects in Romania and Bulgaria. The economic environment in the markets inwhich ECDC invests provides the ideal conditions for achieving our targetedreturns. We are now seeing the same environment as we saw in Poland and Hungarya few years ago and expect these markets to evolve in the same way. We havealready experienced a marked yield convergence with Poland, Hungary and theCzech Republic over the last two years and hence believe that developers nowhave every incentive to take the development risk." An Admission Document containing details of the Company is available fromCharlemagne Capital (UK) Limited. Enquiries Charlemagne Capital (UK) Limited 020 7518 2100Varda Lotan, Marketing Director Smithfield Consultants 020 7360 4900John KielyGeorge HudsonAnne Howalt Panmure Gordon (Broking) Limited 020 7459 3600Hugh MorganJonathan Lack Notes to Editors Charlemagne Capital is a specialist emerging markets equity investmentmanagement group. Charlemagne Capital Limited was admitted to the AIM market ofthe London Stock Exchange on 4 April 2006. Charlemagne's product range comprises mutual funds, hedge funds andinstitutional and specialist fund products primarily covering GEMs, EasternEurope, Latin America and Asia. Charlemagne Capital employs a range ofinvestment strategies including: long only, long/short, structured products andprivate equity. Charlemagne Capital's funds aim to exploit the inefficiencies inthe market via a strict bottom up approach and focused stock selection. The OCCO fund range is Charlemagne Capital's hedge fund range, consisting of theOCCO Eastern European, Global Emerging Markets, Asia and Latin America funds.All of the OCCO funds employ a long/short equity strategy investing acrossglobal emerging markets with a bottom up approach. The funds aim to produceconsistent absolute & risk adjusted performance by exploiting inefficiencies inthe markets through both long & short positions. The funds have a maximumstandard 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 and an AAA-ratingby Standard & Poor's for its Magna Eastern European Fund (a sub-fund of MagnaUmbrella Fund Plc). 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 Group.These statements and forecasts involve risk and uncertainty because they relateto events and depend upon circumstances that will occur in the future. There area number of factors that could cause actual results or developments to differmaterially from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statementsand forecasts. Nothing in this announcement should be construed as a profitforecast. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange