Caledonia seeds a new fund

Caledonia Investments PLC 02 September 2003 CALEDONIA INVESTMENTS PLC ('CALEDONIA') Caledonia seeds a new fund established by Eddington Capital Management Limited ('Eddington') Caledonia is pleased to announce that it has committed £15m in cash to seed the first fund launched by Eddington, a 50/50 joint venture established between Caledonia and Glenn Baggley and Alex Allen to manage a range of fund-of-hedge-funds products. The first fund launched on 1 September 2003 and will target the high return end of the market. Eddington has been authorised and is regulated by the FSA. Tim Ingram, Chief Executive of Caledonia, commented: 'Caledonia has a long track record of identifying opportunities to build value in the financial services sector. We're delighted to have the opportunity of backing a talented team and believe there will be considerable interest in the fund that Eddington has launched.' Glenn Baggley, Chief Executive of Eddington, commented: 'We are delighted to have the backing of Caledonia and believe that the high return segment of the market that we are targeting is an area where investors currently have limited choice. From conversations we have already had we believe there will be considerable demand for our fund.' 2 September 2003 ENQUIRIES: Caledonia Investments plc Tel: 020 7802 8080 Tim Ingram Jamie Cayzer-Colvin College Hill Tel: 020 7457 2020 Tony Friend Tom Allison Eddington Capital Management Limited Tel: 020 7802 8480 Glenn Baggley, CEO Alex Allen, CIO Notes to editors: Glenn Baggley Glenn began his financial career with Bita Plus Consultants where he developed risk control, optimization and portfolio management software. In 1997 he joined Quaestor Investment Management, now a provider of global market-neutral equity hedge funds to institutional and professional investors. As Director of Research, Glenn helped spearhead the transformation of the company from a $1bn traditional long-only active manager into a hedge fund specialist. They raised $330m for the hedge fund range. In 2000 he moved to Attica Asset Management, the London based multi manager, as Managing Director of the Alternative Products Division, where he helped build and manage a successful fund of hedge funds business, raising $200m of alternative assets. Glenn holds a 1st Class Honours BSc in Astrophysics from Newcastle University and a DPhil in Astrophysics from St. John's College, Oxford University. He has also conducted research in Astrophysics at Durham University and Nuclear Physics at The Daresbury Laboratory. Alex Allen Alex began his career at Barclay's Bank in Paris where he was seconded for a one year placement in 1994. This was followed by an internship program at Morgan Grenfell Asset Management where he learned portfolio administration. Alex joined EFG Asset Management in 1997 as a hedge fund analyst, and in 1999 he became the fund manager for EFG's hedge fund range. During Alex's tenure the fund range increased from one to five, and assets under management increased from $13m to in excess of $110m. Alex held a seat on EFG's Asset Allocation Committee, overseeing both tactical and strategic capital allocation across alternative and traditional asset classes. Alex holds a 2:1 BSc (Joint Honours) in International Management and Modern Languages from the University of Bath where his studies included finance, economics, management accounting and financial accounting. NOTES TO EDITORS Caledonia is a long established investment company with international scope listed on the London Stock Exchange. Since April 2003 Caledonia has been classified in the AITC Global Growth sector of investment trusts where its investment performance puts it in the top quartile by reference to one, five and ten year total shareholder returns for the period to 31 July 2003. Caledonia's strategy has delivered outperformance against its benchmark FTSE All-Share Total Return index of 42% over the five year period to 31 July 2003 and 82% over the ten year period to 31 July 2003. Its total shareholder return outperformance for the 12 months to 31 July 2003 was 32%. Caledonia has a policy of delivering progressive annual dividends with a 36-year record of unbroken annual dividend increases. Through holding a diversified portfolio, Caledonia aims to maintain a medium overall risk position. At 31 July 2003, Caledonia had an unaudited Net Asset Value of 1115p per ordinary share Based on the share price as at the end of July 2003 the discount to its Net Asset Value per share was 20.2%. A final dividend of 18p per share was paid on 31 July 2003 to shareholders on the register at the close of business on 4 July 2003. The shares were marked ex-dividend on 2 July 2003. Caledonia's strategy is to focus on a portfolio of around 30 to 40 principal investments, where it has significant and influential stakes with a policy that at least 50% of the total portfolio should be in quoted securities or other liquid assets. New investments will typically be in the range £10 million to £25 million. Careful control is exercised over costs, notwithstanding Caledonia's active and participative management style. The Board believes that Caledonia has a long established and valuable reputation for being a supportive long term investor, which brings a strong deal flow of opportunities not always available to others. Caledonia's investments are focused on a selected range of sectors where it has good in-house knowledge that can add value to management of investee companies. Where particular expertise is not held in-house, investments may be made through third party managed funds where Caledonia will often seek a significant stake in the management company. Caledonia's selected sectors are: Financial: comprising 32% of total assets, including holdings in Close Brothers, ICAP and Rathbone Brothers; Leisure and Media: comprising 20% of the total assets, including holdings in Kerzner International and The Sloane Club; Managed General Funds: comprising 17% of the total assets includes holdings in British Empire Securities and a fund managed by Aberforth Partners; Industrial and Services: comprising 15% of the total assets, including investments in Offshore Logistics and Amber Industrial; Property: comprising 10% of the total assets, including the holding in Quintain Estates; Technology: comprising 2%; and other: comprising 4% of the total assets. The percentages of the total assets quoted are as at 31 July 2003. With investment trust status Caledonia will not be subject in the future to liability for corporation tax on chargeable gains. As a result, Caledonia believes it will be able to build greater value for shareholders and be more appealing to retail shareholders which ultimately should contribute towards a lower discount of Caledonia's share price to Net Asset Value per share. Caledonia is a member of the Association of Investment Trust Companies (AITC). For further information please visit www.caledonia.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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