RIT CAPITAL PARTNERS PLC
Interim Management Statement - 1 October 2009 to date
RIT Capital Partners is a self-managed investment trust whose corporate objective is "to deliver long-term capital growth, while preserving shareholders' capital; to invest without the constraints of a formal benchmark, but to deliver for shareholders increases in capital value in excess of the relevant indices over time."
Its investment policy is "to invest in a widely diversified, international portfolio across a range of asset classes, both quoted and unquoted; to allocate part of the portfolio to exceptional managers in order to ensure access to the best external talent available."
This statement is released to comply with Disclosure and Transparency Rule 4.3 of the Financial Services Authority, and covers the period from the beginning of the second half of the Company's current financial year on 1 October 2009, to the date of this announcement. It is divided into two sections, the first covering material events and new investments during this period. The second section is a general description of the financial performance of the Company in the quarter to 31 December 2009.
1. Material events and transactions during the period
We completed the sale of our interest in Arrow Group to Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. Proceeds included $81m of cash and $50m of Watson shares. Other developments included commitments to two new unquoted ventures: Helios Towers Africa, an operator of telecommunications towers in sub-Saharan Africa, and Agora, a North Sea Oil & Gas exploration and production company.
Investments were made in two new public equity funds: $27m in Althea, an emerging market equity hedge fund and $40m in Penta, an Asia (inc Japan) hedge fund.
Management of currency exposure: at 31 December the principal exposures comprised:
31 December 2009 | 30 September 2009 | ||
US$: | 34.3% | 23.1% | |
Renminbi: | 14.8% | 4.3% | |
| Euro: | 9.4% | 16.9% |
Swiss Franc: | 9.2% | 7.1% | |
Sterling: | 8.2% | 15.9% | |
Yen: | -9.0% | 2.3% |
2. Financial performance during the quarter ended 31 December 2009
30 September 2009 | 31 December 2009 | Change | ||
Net Asset Value (NAV) per share | 1,064.1p | 1,074.4p | +1.0% | |
Share price | 965.0p | 1,045.0p | +8.3% | |
Share price premium / (discount) to NAV | (9.3)% | (2.7)% | n/a | |
Morgan Stanley Capital | ||||
International World Index (in £) | +2.8% | |||
FTSE All-Share Index | +4.8% |
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