Polar Capital Regulatory News (POLR)

Polar Capital Holdings PLC

20 May 2013

Polar Capital Holdings plc Announces Intention to Launch a Global Financials Investment Trust

Polar Capital Holdings plc ("Polar Capital"), the specialist asset management group, today announces its intention to launch the Polar Capital Global Financials Trust plc ("PCFT"). It is intended that PCFT will seek admission for the trading of its ordinary shares on the London Stock Exchange plc with a main market, premium listing. PCFT is looking to raise in excess of £100 million through a proposed placing and offer for subscription, in order to facilitate the retail element of the offer.

 Highlights

 ·; Objective - to generate an attractive and progressive dividend income plus capital growth by investing in a diversified global portfolio of equity, debt and other securities of listed financial stocks. It is expected that 90% of PCFT at outset will be in equities.

 ·; Market opportunity - the Financials sector is the largest sector globally, representing around 20% of equity markets. However, it has been deeply out of favour with investors for the majority of the past six years. Polar Capital's Financials Team feel that the sector is now recovering and that there are significant investment opportunities.

 ·; Yield opportunity - the Financials Team expect that a major catalyst for the sector will be a return / re-basing of bank dividends. Historically, the sector has been a major provider of yield to investors. The return to more normalised dividend payouts - in a market where investors are searching for income - should lead to a significant re-rating.

 ·; Dividend policy - PCFT will seek to pay dividends at the rate initially of 3.1p annually (equal to an initial yield of 3.1%) with the aim of increasing the dividend progressively thereafter.

 ·; Highly experienced portfolio management team - the Manager will be Polar Capital LLP where the Financials Team has over 100 years' combined investment experience. The six strong team manage a range of award winning specialist financials funds, with track records dating back as far as 1996.

 ·; Investor friendly structure - PCFT will have a fixed life to May 2020 with an Annual Management Fee of 0.85 per cent per annum, based on the lower of market capitalisation or NAV of PCFT so as to align the Manager's and shareholders' interests. In addition, a performance fee may be payable at the end of the company's life. Subscription shares will be attached to ordinary shares issued on IPO on a 1 for 5 basis, exercisable in April 2017 at a price of 115 pence (issue price is 100p per ordinary share).

·; Industry relevant and incentivised Board - initially 3 members who, where they receive their fees personally, will reinvest 50% of their net remuneration back into PCFT's shares for at least the first 5 years.

John Regnier-Wilson, Head of Closed Ended Funds, Polar Capital, added:

"As with Polar Capital's Healthcare Trust launch in 2010, we are again coming to the market with a call to action as we believe that this is an excellent time for investors to be revisiting this very large and under-owned sector. The structure of this investment trust has once more had significant professional investor input with fees set at a competitive level, based on the lower of market capitalisation or NAV, subscription shares at launch and a hard wind-up in May 2020. We have made a real effort to make sure that everybody's interests are aligned for this attractive and timely investment opportunity."

Investment Manager

Polar Capital Holdings plc is a research driven investment management company providing a highly entrepreneurial environment for outstanding portfolio managers within a structure that offers a level of marketing, administrative and operational support normally found in much larger organisations.

Our objective is to deliver strong, sustainable earnings and dividend growth by building a highly diversified family of long-only, long-bias, equity long/short and other fundamentally driven hedge fund strategies managed under the Polar Capital brand.

Today Polar Capital has a staff of 85 of whom 43 are investment professionals managing 20 funds, 7 managed accounts. These funds, which are aimed at institutional and professional investors, have combined assets under management as at 31 March 2013 of US$7.2bn.

 Admission

Dealings are expected to commence by the end of June 2013.

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited has been appointed as broker to the proposed initial public offering and has also been appointed as financial adviser to PCGF.

For further information, please contact:

Polar Capital Holdings plc +44 (0)20 7227 2700

Tim Woolley

John Regnier-Wilson ("Reg")

Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited +44 (0)20 7886 2500

(Financial Adviser to PCFT)

Paul Fincham

Simon Gaunt

Canaccord Genuity +44 (0)20 7523 8000

(Nominated Adviser and Broker to Polar Capital)

Martin Green

Cameron Duncan

FTI Consulting +44 (0)20 7269 7132

Ed Gascoigne-Pees

Notes to editor:

Nick Brind - Fund Manager

Nick Brind joined Polar Capital following the acquisition of HIM Capital in September 2010 and is the manager of the Polar Capital Financials Income Fund. He has 18 years' investment experience across a wide range of asset classes. Prior to joining HIM Capital, Nick worked at New Star Asset Management. While there he managed the New Star Financial Opportunities Fund, a high-income financials fund investing in the equity and fixed-income securities of European financial companies, which outperformed its benchmark index in all 6 years that Nick managed it. Previously he worked at Exeter Asset Management and Capel-Cure Myers. At Exeter Asset Management, Nick managed the Exeter Capital Growth Fund from 1997 to 2003 which over this period was in the top decile of the IMA UK All Companies Sector. Nick has a Masters in Finance from London Business School.

John Yakas - Fund Manager

John Yakas joined Polar Capital in September 2010 following the acquisition of HIM Capital in September 2010 and is the manager of the Polar Capital Asian Financials Fund and Polar Capital Financial Opportunities Fund. John has over 25 years' experience in the financial services industry and has been involved with the Asian Financials Fund since its launch in 1996 and the Financials Opportunities Fund since its launch in 2011. Previously, he worked for HSBC as a commercial banker in Hong Kong and Fitch IBCA in London covering European financials. He was appointed the Head of Asian research at Fox-Pitt, Kelton in 1995 and established their office in Hong Kong in 2000. In 2003 he joined Hiscox Investment Management which later became HIM Capital. John has won Lipper awards in the Equity Sector Banks and Other Financials Sector in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 for the performance of the Asian Financials Fund. He has an MBA from London Business School and studied at the London School of Economics (BSc Econ).

Important Notices

This announcement does not constitute or form part of, and should not be construed as, any offer for sale or subscription of, or solicitation of any offer to buy or subscribe for, any shares in PCGF or securities in any other entity, in any jurisdiction, including the United States, nor shall it, or any part of it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied on in connection with, any contract or investment decision whatsoever, in any jurisdiction. This announcement does not constitute a recommendation regarding any securities.

Any investment decision must be made exclusively on the basis of the prospectus to be published by PCFT in due course and any supplement thereto in connection with the admission of ordinary shares in the capital of PCFT to the Official List of the UK Listing Authority and to trading on the London Stock Exchange plc's main market for listed securities (the "Prospectus").

This announcement, and the information contained therein, is not for viewing, release, distribution or publication in or into the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland or Japan or any other jurisdiction where applicable laws prohibit its release, distribution or publication, and will not be made available to any national, resident or citizen of the United States, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Ireland or Japan. The distribution of this announcement in other jurisdictions may be restricted by law and persons into whose possession this document comes must inform themselves about, and observe, any such restrictions. Any failure to comply with the restrictions may constitute a violation of the federal securities law of the United States and the laws of other jurisdictions.

PCFT's shares ("Shares") have not been, and will not be, registered under the US Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "Securities Act"). The Shares cannot be offered, re-sold, pledged or otherwise transferred, directly or indirectly, within the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, any US Person (as defined in Regulation S of the Securities Act), except pursuant to an exemption from, or in a transaction not subject to, the registration requirements of the Securities Act. The Shares are being offered or sold outside the United States in reliance of Regulation S, and within the United States pursuant to an exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act.

PCFT has not been, and will not be, registered under the US Investment Company Act of 1940, as amended (the "Investment Company Act") and investors will not be entitled to benefits under the Investment Company Act. There will be no public offering of the Shares in the United States.

All investments are subject to risk, including the loss of the principal amount invested. Past performance is no guarantee of future returns. All investments to be managed by PCGH involve a substantial degree of risk, including the risk of total loss. Any tax concessions referred to are not guaranteed and their value will depend on the individual circumstances of the investor. You should always seek expert legal, financial, tax and other professional advice before making any investment decision.

Neither PCFT, Polar Capital, the Manager, Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited, their affiliates nor any other person (including, without limitation, the directors, officers, employees, partners, agents, representatives, members and advisers of PCFT, Polar Capital, the Manager, Panmure Gordon (UK) limited and their affiliates) undertakes any obligation to update or revise any statement made in this announcement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

The information on the pages that follow may contain forward-looking statements. Any statement other than a statement of historical fact is a forward-looking statement.

Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statement. PCFT does not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. You should not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statement, which speaks only as of the date of its issuance.