CMA Global Hedge PCC Limited has raised USD 402 million with its international initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.
CMA Global Hedge PCC Limited has raised USD 402 million with its international initial public offering on the London Stock Exchange.

Sabby Mionis, CEO of CMA, said: 'The fact that we were able to raise USD 400 million at a time of rising financial market volatility and geopolitical uncertainty underlines investor appreciation of the stability of the investment returns generated by CMA over the past eight years.'

'We believe that demand for funds of hedge funds will only increase among both individuals and institutions. We intend CMA Global Hedge to be the destination for investors wanting access to a diversified portfolio of hedge funds and daily liquidity. We aim to deliver returns of LIBOR plus 7 per cent through the use of modest leverage.

'CMA's senior management has invested USD 20 million in cash in CMA Global Hedge shares and our investment is locked up for two years. Our parent, EFG International, has also invested USD 20 million. We are proud that CMA Global Hedge is structured to epitomise the alignment of shareholder and manager interests.'

James T H Lee, Director of CMA Global Hedge and Deputy CEO of EFG International, which acquired CMA in February 2006, said:  'We expect there to be further opportunities to deploy CMA's hedge fund capabilities and product development expertise in creating investment products that are finely calibrated to the needs of worldwide institutional and high net worth clients.'

Listing Highlights:

• Shares to be issued under the Placing at prices of USD 10, EUR 10 and GBP 10 in the relevant class
• The Placing shares represent 100% of the issued share capital of CMA Global Hedge on admission to the London Stock Exchange, or 35.6m shares
• Shares representing USD 20 million have been subscribed for by Sabby Mionis and Angelos Metaxa, the founders of CMA Global Hedge's manager, C.M. Advisors Ltd.
• Sabby Mionis and Angelos Metaxa have agreed to lock up their shares for two years after admission to the London Stock Exchange
• Unconditional dealings on the London Stock Exchange are expected to begin on 24 July 2006 under the ticker symbols CMAU for the US Dollar class, CMAE for the Euro class and CMAS for the Sterling class
• Conditional dealings, in the US Dollar class and the Euro class, are expected to commence on the London Stock Exchange at 8:00am today (19 July)
• Over-allotment option exercisable for up to 30 days after this announcement for up to 15% of the shares available in the Placing.

Lehman Brothers International (Europe) and Merrill Lynch International are acting as Joint Global Coordinators, Joint Bookrunners and Joint Sponsors for the IPO.  EFG Bank and EFG Eurobank Securities are acting as Co-lead Distributors