AAA-rated fund manager for New Star European Growth

Richard Pease, head of European equities at New Star and manager of the Dublin OEIC New Star European Growth Fund, was recently awarded the highest possible rating, AAA, by Citywire, for his management of the UK-based Open Ended Investment Company equivalent.

Mr Pease has delivered top quartile performance for the Dublin OEIC New Star European Growth fund since it was launched in August, 2002. Formerly head of European equities at Jupiter Asset Management, where he was manager of the top performing European UK mutual fund between 1990 and 2000, Mr Pease has more than 15 years' experience in managing European equities.

Citywire Fund Manager Ratings identifies the individual managers who have the best risk-adjusted personal performance track records over three years and highlights the funds they are currently managing. Of the 1,000+ active fund managers in Citywire's UK database, less than five per cent receive an AAA rating.

New Star Global Investment Funds plc, represented in Malta by Jesmond Mizzi Financial Services Limited, is a Dublin-based open-ended investment company designed, with its selection of funds, to provide investors with access to the world's financial markets. New Star European Growth Fund invests in a vast amount of companies with around two thirds of the portfolio invested in small and medium-sized companies.

These are the companies that Mr Pease believes will provide the greatest long-term growth opportunities in continental Europe. The New Star European Growth Fund aims to provide investors with long-term capital growth, principally through investment in the securities of European companies (excluding the United Kingdom).

Mr Pease looks for companies that ideally can grow at 15 per cent a year. Because of Mr Pease's performance record, you could be forgiven for believing that he adopts a high-risk investment approach, but this is not the case and he has been described as "an innately cautious fund manager" by Standard and Poor's, a leading independent fund-rating agency.

This latest accolade comes hot on the heels of the New Star European Growth Fund (UK OEIC) receiving an AAA rating from Forsyth OBSR. The Forsyth-OBSR AAA rating is awarded to a fund that demonstrates a disciplined investment process, which it is believed will translate into exceptional long-term performance. The Forsyth-OBSR AAA rating is an indication of excellence.

Between August 16, 2002, and January 31, 2005, the fund returned 47.1 per cent (Euro class - annualised performance, 16.4 per cent), compared with a rise of 23.1 per cent in the FTSE World Europe ex-UK Index (Euro) (source: Datastream, January 31, 2005). The fund, which has a primary listing on the Malta Stock Exchange, can be marketed in Malta.