New Star Heart of Africa Fund raises £34 million at launch

New Star's Heart of Africa Fund raised £34 million over the course of its three-week launch period, which ended on 9 November.

The launch of the sub-Saharan excluding South Africa fund, run by the Citywire A rated manager, Jamie Allsopp, reflects New Star's belief in the growing investment potential of the region. It is designed to offer sophisticated investors access to the region in the early stages of its development. Strong economic growth, a reducing debt burden, high levels of foreign direct investment, increasing levels of political stability, strong demand for resources and a low level of correlation with other world markets have combined to make sub-Sahara excluding South Africa an attractive investment destination.

Mark Skinner, managing director, New Star Asset Management, says:

"To raise £34 million at launch has exceeded our expectations. This sum raised so far has allowed Jamie to commit to a high conviction portfolio of stocks that is well diversified across the region and across a number of high-growth sectors.

"New Star will be capping the size of its Heart of Africa investment strategy at £100 million. Whilst the fund still has additional capacity we expect to see continued strong demand for this product."

Jamie is in the process of investing the money raised during the launch period in the markets. His target regional and sector asset allocations at the time of going to press were as follows:

Target regional allocation:

*While all companies included in the portfolio will conduct their main business activities in the region, some of them may be listed on stock exchanges elsewhere such as Johannesburg and London.

Target sector allocation:

Editors notes:

• The fund sits in the IMA Specialist sector.
• New Star will be capping the size of its Heart of Africa investment strategy at £100 million.
• The fund was designed to offer sophisticated investors access to the sub-Saharan excluding South Africa region in the early stages of its development.
• Minimum investment is £12,500, with a minimum top-up amount of £5,000.
• The initial charge is 5.25% and the annual management charge is 1.75%.
• New Star will levy a performance fee of 20% of any outperformance achieved over its target - three-month sterling LIBOR plus 3%. The charge will be levied quarterly subject to achieving its performance target and reaching a high watermark.

This fund is high risk and therefore only suitable for investors who are able to bear the loss of all or part of their capital investment. Investors should contact their financial adviser to discuss the suitability of an investment in this fund. Investors' attention is drawn to the detailed risk warnings in the fund's prospectus.

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For further information please contact:

New Star Investment Funds website is www.newstaram.com.

Important information

• New Star, one of the UK's fastest growing fund management companies, was founded in June 2000 by John Duffield, previously the founder of Jupiter Asset Management.
• New Star currently has a range of 39 UK retail funds. These include funds covering UK and international equity growth, UK equity income, bonds, UK and international property and specialist areas such as global financials, investment trusts and technology as well as global and regional funds of funds.
• New Star won the Citywire Team All Stars Award in 2004, 2005 and 2006. The award recognises consistent performance on a risk-adjusted basis across 15 key IMA sectors.
• New Star employs more than 370 people and has offices in London, Dublin, Bermuda, Madrid, Zurich, Milan and Hong Kong.
• At 26 September 2007, the group's total funds under management stood at £24.4 billion.

Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance.

New Star Investment Funds is the trading name of New Star Investment Funds Limited, part of the New Star Marketing Group. New Star Investment Funds is not authorised to give investment advice and only provides information on New Star products. For your protection, calls may be recorded and monitored. Issued by New Star Investment Funds Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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