Abu Dhabi Capital Management

17 January 2012

Abu Dhabi Capital Management announces the intention of Qannas Investments Limited to raise up to $50 million as part of a $200 million investment program, and admit its shares to trading on AIM

Abu Dhabi Capital Management ("ADCM") today announces the intention of Qannas Investments Limited (the "Company" or "Qannas") to apply for the admission of its shares to trading on AIM, a market of the London Stock Exchange Plc ("Admission"), and to proceed with an initial offering by way of a placing of its ordinary shares to institutional and other investors.

The Company will take the form of a newly-established, closed-ended investment company incorporated in Jersey and regulated by the Jersey Financial Services Commission. ADCM, an alternative investment management firm based in Abu Dhabi, will act as investment manager to the Company.

Qannas will seek to generate a target IRR of at least 20 per cent by investing in a diversified portfolio of undervalued equity and debt investments, with a focus on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.

Highlights

-- Opportunity to invest in undervalued GCC assets through a manager (ADCM) with a track record in the target region. It is currently intended that the Company's investments will be held for 3-5 years with the intention of realising values in line with the anticipated economic recovery.

-- Optimal capital use: the capital raising programme is designed to minimize cash drag. Qannas intends rapidly to deploy the proceeds of the IPO and subsequent capital raises to a maximum of $200m. Investors will have full pre-emption rights but will have no obligation to participate in future capital raises.

-- Fee structure designed to align the interests of the investment manager with those of the shareholders.

Qannas Chairman Chris Ward commented, "We believe that this is an under-invested region with strong credentials, including strong economic growth rates and a wealth of natural resources: GCC countries hold 35 per cent of the world's known oil reserves and 22 per cent of global gas reserves. Liquidity dislocation in the region has led to declines in asset values, creating compelling investment opportunities. Qannas offers a rare opportunity for international investors to access these markets and tap into the expertise of a manager with specialist local knowledge."

Investment strategy

The Company's investment strategy is to utilise ADCM's investment expertise to acquire assets at a discount to their intrinsic value from vendors who are either distressed or seeking to re-position their investment portfolios. It is intended that the Company will invest 80 percent of its capital in the GCC region with the balance utilised opportunistically on a global basis.

Board

The Qannas board will consist of four directors: three independent directors and Jassim Alseddiqi, CEO of ADCM. It will be chaired by Chris Ward.

Investment Manager

ADCM was established in January 2011 and currently manages more than $100 million in assets for institutional and high net worth investors, deployed in private equity and debt investments. The ADCM investment team, which is based in Abu Dhabi, is led by Jassim Alseddiqi and comprises six investment professionals with a total of more than 40 years of investment management and finance experience.

Advisers

Deloitte is acting as Nominated Adviser to the Company and Daniel Stewart & Company as broker. Appleby has been appointed as Jersey legal adviser, and Herbert Smith LLP as English law adviser. BDO is the auditor and reporting accountant. Appleby Fund Administrators (Jersey) Limited will act as administrator and custodian.

For further information please contact:

 
 Maitland   Tel: +44 (0)20 7379 5151 
 

Liz Morley

Andrea Coleman

Sam Turvey

Tom Eckersley

Biographies of the Board

Chris Ward, Non-Executive Chairman

Chris Ward, aged 62, has had nearly 30 years' experience in corporate finance, during which time he has advised on many transactions and capital raisings in a wide variety of sectors and particularly in the private equity market. Chris was an equity partner of Deloitte in the UK from 1979 to 2008, when he relocated to Dubai, and held a number of roles at various times, including Head of Corporate Finance Advisory in the UK and Global Head of Corporate Finance. More recently, from September 2008 to May 2011, Chris established and ran the Financial Advisory Services practice of Deloitte in the Middle East, as the CEO of Deloitte Corporate Finance Limited, a company regulated by the Dubai Financial Services Authority.

Chris was also responsible for establishing the private equity and real estate fund placement business at Deloitte in the UK. Chris has also served as a member of the Board of the Corporate Finance Faculty of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales ("ICAEW"). He was the Faculty's Chairman from 2004 to 2008 and during his tenure the Faculty launched the Corporate Finance qualification. Until his move to Dubai, he was a member of the Council of the ICAEW. In 2011, he received the award of "Outstanding Achievement in Corporate Finance" from the ICAEW.

Richard Prosser, Non-Executive Director

Richard Prosser, aged 51, a chartered accountant, is a partner of the Appleby Group and a director of its wholly owned trust company, Appleby Trust (Jersey) Limited (a corporate and fiduciary administrator authorised to conduct trust company business in Jersey). In addition, he chairs the Investment Policy Committee of Appleby Trust, which monitors and evaluates the performance of the asset managers throughout the group.

Mr Prosser is a director of a number of companies quoted in London and elsewhere, including property companies, hedge funds and investment management companies. He is chairman of Aberdeen Latin American Income Fund Limited (which is traded on the London Stock Exchange's Main Market), Damille Investments II Limited (which is listed on the Specialist Fund Market of the London Stock Exchange) and Threadneedle Investments (C.I.) Limited (the manager of the Threadneedle Property Unit Trust). He is also a non-executive director of Threadneedle European Property Fund. Mr Prosser is a resident of Jersey.

Andrew Whelan, Non-Executive Director

Andrew Whelan, aged 45, has 24 years experience as an investment professional and is a Chartered Fellow of the Chartered Securities & Investment Institute. Andrew was a founding partner of Ermitage Group following its MBO in 2006 from Liberty Life, South Africa's pre-eminent life assurance business, backed by Caledonia Investments a venture capital firm. Andrew joined Liberty Ermitage in 2001 and was a Group Executive Director and Managing Director of Ermitage Global Wealth Management Jersey Limited. Andrew's primary responsibility was to manage Ermitage's Wealth Management business, for which he was also CIO.

Prior to joining Liberty Ermitage, Andrew worked for Kleinwort Benson part of the Dresdner Private Banking Group, where he was head of the Channel Islands' Portfolio Management Division, which had funds under management of US$ 2.5 billion. He was also a member of Kleinwort Benson's London Private Bank Investment Committee, which formulated investment strategy for both the onshore and offshore businesses with combined funds under management of US$ 9 billion. In addition Andrew was Fund Manager of the Lipper award winning Dresdner Private Banking Strategic Investment Fund. Andrew started his career in 1987 at Morgan Grenfell (which became part of the Deutsche Bank Group) where after 7 years he left to join Kleinwort Benson. He has been recognised in the City wealth Leaders List in 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011 and is also a member of the Retained Global Speaker programme for the CFA Society.

Jassim Alseddiqi, Non-Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer of ADCM

Jassim is the Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Capital Management (ADCM), an alternative investment platform he started building in January 2011. ADCM has since raised substantial funds from institutions worldwide and invested in opportunistic investments across different regions. Under his leadership, ADCM generated solid returns for its investors during turbulent times and its activities have gained global attention.

Jassim was previously Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Capital Group, managing global assets including Public Equities, Hedge Funds, Fixed Income, Private Equity and Real Estate.

Jassim played an integral part in establishing several reputed financial services firms in the UAE, and was instrumental in setting up Al Nahda Investments, Reem Finance, and Essdar Capital."

Jassim is a sought after resource for private equity investments and deal sourcing in the region.

Jassim received his Masters of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the Cornell University, and has several publications in international engineering journals

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

This announcement is not an offer to sell or a solicitation of any offer to buy the shares of Qannas Investments Limited (the "Fund" and such shares, the "Securities") in the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan or in any other jurisdiction where such offer or sale would be unlawful.