Had this on the watch list too long and could kick my own ass if it was possible. I think this is just the type of play needed on these markets along with Value shares such as Churchill China that I recommended yesterday.

Heres just a brief background on the company.................

Hedge fund leads rush to float
by Louise Armitstead
RAB Capital is the first to plan a listing in London. Others are bound to follow

IN the spring of 1999 Philip Richards and Michael Alen-Buckley arrived almost empty-handed at their new office — a small room in 1 Adam Street, just off the Strand in central London.
The day — April Fools’ Day — seemed apt at the time. Richards and Alen-Buckley, both highly regarded bankers at Merrill Lynch, were giving up stellar careers to start their own hedge fund, RAB Capital. The only money they had was their own, and their staff consisted of one manager, a compliance officer and a secretary.

Five years on, the little room in 1 Adam Street, still RAB Capital’s main trading floor, albeit straining under a vastly expanded workforce, is again the engine room of an ambitious and pioneering venture.

Last week RAB Capital became the first stand-alone hedge-fund company to announce its intention to float in London.

Richards, 46, and Alen-Buckley, 43, will be at the helm of a company with a market value that could be as high as 100m. Their stakes could be worth 30m each. Advised by KBC Peel Hunt, the firm will release a prospectus tomorrow revealing how much money it intends to raise.

In the past five years, Richards, a former army officer, and Alen-Buckley, who is the son-in-law of the hotelier Lord Forte, have increased their funds under management from 4m to an estimated 1.1 billion. They have 40 staff (16 of them managers), 7 hedge funds and a track record that is the envy of the City.

RAB’s first fund, the European equities fund, which was launched in November 1999, has made returns of 84% despite the tumbling markets.

Floating will for the first time allow small investors to take part in the success of a hedge-fund boutique rather than investing in one fund.

But there is growing concern that they will also be exposed to risks that at the moment are restricted to professional investors.

Watching in the wings are hundreds of other hedge-fund managers, salivating at the thought of following RAB to market and realising the value of their businesses. Investment bankers and advisers are also rubbing their hands at the prospect of a spate of similar deals.

Two funds earmarked for flotation are Thames River Capital and GLG Partners, one of the biggest hedge funds in London, with about $8 billion under management. Experts say plenty of others are looking to float as a way of cashing in.

Richards and Alen-Buckley dismiss the suggestion that this is their motive for floating RAB. “Right from the start we wanted to create a long-term business and we’re here to stay,” said Richards. “Floating is an indication of our permanence. Neither one of us will be taking cash out. We are also doing this for our staff. We have given them options over the years and this will be their chance to realise some cash. Staff loyalty is important to us and to our clients, who like the stability this offers.”

The cash raised from the float will also be used to launch additional hedge funds and bankroll the company’s rapid expansion.

Managers have already been hired for several new funds that will specialise in energy and in Japan. Small investors are likely to be attracted through a joint venture with Saga, which provides services for the over-fifties and has 7m customers.

Richards and Alen-Buckley built impressive reputations in the City working together in the late 1980s at Smith New Court, where they helped to build the stockbroker from a market value of 10m to one of 500m by the time it was sold to Merrill Lynch in 1995.

Both men had been watching the growing hedge-fund industry with interest. Alen-Buckley had numerous contacts, including leading figures such as George Soros. They spent four years at Merrill before quitting to set up RAB.

Alen-Buckley, who is taking the title of executive chairman, is described as the “public face” of the business. Richards, who goes from chief investment officer to chief executive, is more involved in strategy.

Richards runs the Special Situations fund, which is just over a year old but has already generated a return of 1,274%.

Since hedge funds are known for being opaque and secretive, observers are concerned that RAB will struggle to live with the scrutiny that comes with being a public company.

Richards said the company planned to float on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) rather than the main market so that lengthy meetings with institutions could be avoided. “We want to spend our time managing the money, not talking about it,” he said.

“We have a simple philosophy. Our goal is to produce consistent returns in all market conditions. We think that if you work on managing the risks and reducing the downside, the upside tends to look after itself. The float is exciting but it will still be business as usual.”ENDS



Please DYOR, you are responsible for your own buying and selling timing actions.

cheers GF

Page 56 Daily Mail today

Warren Buffet slammed hedge funds, describing them as a 'fad'.

Cheers Thirdeye.

A pile of poop, ramped up to the skies just like JCR, DART, BPRG,BEMA and what was that other gold share that went nowhere - apart from Thistle Mining - and goodness knows how many others. I'll get back to you about that other gold share, the name escapes me for the moment. It got ramped to the heavens by GF/Slater/Oliverleftwingtwit/ before it got listed on AIM.

KBC Peel Hunt, initiated coverage of RAB CAPITAL saying the hedge fund manager should be supported by strong fundamentals.

Traders speculated the group may also have good news in the offing.ENDS.

Great to know that George Soros, thinks that hedge funds are the future of ALL markets.

cheers GF.

In fact a BUY note gone out on RAB.



Group Captain
Member # 4596
posted 30 April 2004 16:19
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BUY NOTE FOR RAB : http://www.kbcpeelhunt.com/pdfs/RAB28Apr04.pdf
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| IP: Logged

cheers GF.

Oh 2 posts on the Buy note. Buy note or not can't even hold onto a 0.5p rise on the back of them, once the peelhunt boys have stopped supporting it for today, I suspect it's going to find it's true level as opposed to hyped one.

Now just 0.25p up despite a 50 pt rise in the market.

Good to see real analysts having a different view to Scottie and his chum. As for Buffet some of his calls have been ropey recently, losing his touch. Not as poor as Third Eye's, but ropey nonetheless, Buffet's tend not to go bust.

Scottie you missed DATA, SCD and CDW(the last named quadrupled) among many others (oh of course, they've all gone up).

Four of top six FTSE risers today mining stocks, the obituaries seem rather premature!! Expect that to filter through to RAB in coming days.

I also forgot BPRG and YAU which are also in the sick bay. If you ramp enough of them you're bound to get some right surely.

BPRG, lol! it's up massively since last year's float. Actually think you'll find GF said Thistle was short term and said when to sell (oh and JCR has doubled since he first tipped it).

Anyway, I see a big seller getting cleared out at RAB (volume over 11 million), overhang likely gone, so that could now clear way for good rises too in coming days.

...........Well it was until they cancelled a 5 million trade!!!!!! Still over 5 million traded.

Guys, the Five and a half million sell was actually an institutional buy, according to one of the other boards. This put pressure on the price all day. Paul.

FAO Scottie,

As you probably know golfinger & hawick work as a team on various bulletin boards (Slater & eyecatcher on Sharecrazy....Whitelion & Scotland on Unquoted & Aimquoted Oliverleftwingtit & Egoi on ADVFN etc etc....not said lightly the evidence is on each board) supporting each other in a buy or sell stance. Investors especially gullable ones should be beware.

Yes I'm now aware of that ThirdEye. There is now another in the mix by the name of Invisage who blatantly ramps anything that GF puts forward. I have a mate in the 'old bill' who is checking all this out. Better have a word with your Solicitor GF. You have been calling this bluff on ramping for some time now on various bulletin boards. Solicitor's fees can be expensive.

Thanks Paul, nice to stick to the real issues. Will be interesting to see if the overhang has cleared.

All,

This thread is titled and therefore about RAB Capital - however, there seems to have been a general slide towards personal comment and accusations - there are too many people on here trying to point out their personal opinions of other posters.

This is a financial bulletin board, where positive and yes even negative discussion is encouraged as long as it is on topic, there are threads on this board which are fun, some are silly, but we cannot allow a thread to descend to a point where it is essentailly just a forum for one poster to offer their opinion on another.

PLEASE CAN WE NOW STICK TO MATURE DISCUSSION ABOUT THE TOPIC AT HAND AND NOT EACH OTHER.

Thank you Ian.

As I suggested yesterday, RAB starting to move up, looks like a big seller was cleaned out, and this makes now look to me like an excellent entry point. Not bothered by day to day fluctuations as in my long term portfolio.

I echo Hawicks comments, tuly the time to debate the company.

Nice to see it up 3% today.

Good luck to everyone long or short, thats what makes a market.

cheers GF.

Up 2p today, grand.

cheers GF.

Today's Financial Times has a article headed,

RAB BOOMS AS HEDGE FUNDS GAIN FAVOUR,

It reports on yesterday's buy note from Evolution, Robin Chabra of Evolution said, "There is HUGE potential for growth given the fact that the hedge fund industry is still young, fragmented and dominated by smaller players"
Evolution forecasts pretax profits to increase by 77% to 18.8min 2004, giving RAB a price earnings ratio of around 14.1.
14.1 p.e. is hardly expensive for a dynamic growth company such as RAB, Evolution has also based its figures on FUM of 1.1bn USD, but RAB have recently confirmed that the FUM has grown to 1.6bn usd, and is increasing by 20% per quarter on a compound basis.

cheers GF. Time to jump aboard I feel before it gets away.

Thank you for the info, re the Financial Times article, GF. Glad I got in, and am in for the long term on this one. Regards Paul.