New Star Balanced Portfolio upgraded to 'AA' by Standard and Poor's

• New Star Balanced Portfolio upgraded to 'AA' from previous 'A' rating

The latest review of the New Star Balanced Portfolio by Standard & Poor's has resulted in a rating upgrade to 'AA' for the fund. The S&P review and consequent adjustment recognised the consistent performance of the New Star Balanced Portfolio.

Since Mark Harris and Craig Heron assumed management of the fund in January 2002, the fund has returned 59.1% compared to a 37.9% return for the IMA Balanced Managed sector and is ranked in the first quartile over the same period.*

Standard & Poor's commented on the fund:

"Returns relative to the peer group median have generally been strong, demonstrating the overall success of the process and timeliness of decision making. Given the success achieved, the stability of the core team of managers and the reasonably established process, the fund merits an S&P AA rating."

Richard Wilson, marketing director, New Star, said:

"This latest rating is a reflection of the excellent performance achieved by the New Star fund of funds team, whose achievements resulted in New Star recently being named 'Best Multi-Manager Group' at the 2008 Professional Adviser Awards. The S&P rating is testament to the team's skill at identifying and blending a mixture of high-quality funds within a risk-controlled environment."

* Source: Lipper, mid to mid, net income reinvested to 31/12/2001 – 29/02/2008

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For further information please contact:

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

Important information

• New Star was founded in June 2000 by John Duffield, previously the founder of Jupiter Asset Management.
• New Star currently has a range of 38 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 390 people and has offices in London, Dublin, Bermuda, Madrid, Zurich, Milan and Hong Kong.
• At 18 March 2008, the group's total funds under management stood at £20.3 billion.

Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance.

The value of investments and any income from them may fall as well as rise and investors may not get back the amount originally invested.

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 are recorded and may be monitored. Issued by New Star Investment Funds Limited, authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

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