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02 September 2010

1 September 2010: Kleinwort Benson has been appointed Fund Administrator to a market-leading Guernsey domiciled fund, with a launch value of US$150 million. Kleinwort Benson (Channel Islands) Fund Services Limited has helped Prosperity Capital Management Limited (“Prosperity”) to successfully launch its fourth Guernsey domiciled closed-ended fund, ‘Prosperity Quest II Unlisted Limited’, underlining Guernsey’s position as a robust jurisdiction of choice for innovative global fund managers. Prosperity has been investing in Russia and the CIS since 1996, with a long-only, activist philosophy. With approximately $4bn of assets under management, it is the largest independent portfolio manager of international monies in the region, and continues to manage the most successful Russia-focused funds of the last 10 years. The investment strategy of the Prosperity Quest II fund is to invest in small and medium Russian companies, acquiring significant minority stakes and increasing the value of the underlying companies through shareholder activism. In line with their flexible approach, Prosperity has accepted subscriptions in specie, with underlying assets such as companies, not simply monetary subscriptions. This has amounted to approximately 20% of the subscriptions. “We are still in a very difficult market for fund raising, particularly for investing in Russia and other emerging markets,” said Joe Truelove, Head of Channel Islands Business Development for Corporate Clients at Kleinwort Benson. “The fact that Prosperity Capital Management has managed to raise $150 million for a new fund in the current environment is a testament to their strong reputation and expertise in the Russian market. Adapting the subscription to allow investors to invest in specie was a particularly innovative solution.” Kleinwort Benson administers three other Guernsey domiciled funds for Prosperity - all closed-ended vehicles. “We are pleased to have attracted new investors in this challenging environment, and to have worked with Kleinwort Benson in Guernsey on this successful fund raising,” said Liam Halligan, Chief Economist for Prosperity Capital Management. Katherine Ashton at Debevoise and Plimpton acted as English legal counsel on Prosperity Quest II Unlisted Limited, Caroline Chan from Ogier acted as Guernsey legal counsel with KPMG appointed as auditors. The Directors of the fund are Patrick Firth, Trudi Clark and David Jeffreys. - Ends -

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