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

Thirdeye has a grudge with Goldfinger, i think his lost alot of money in the past and is holding goldfinger responsible...
therefore he continues to deramp all of goldfingers shares....

i doubt it will work....

but hey if you have nothing else to pass your time with...then what can i say....

Very interesting post from Janus 541 on the AFE thread which points us to an article about the Berlin stock exchange and tells us what is really going on !!
it is no help to those nursing losses but does give hope if you hang in there and maybe we blame the MMs unfairly. >>> Has anyone followed the link yet---it adds to the debate!!

Absolute rubbish Invisage, I post what I think is overvalued & I have been right on the two I have posted on reguarly.....JCR which we were told is on a p/e of 1 and was going to make 1.5 million in the thread, it made circa one tenth & has a very worrying gearing position, which was not mentioned.

The other I have posted on more than a few times is RAB, we were told it's going to 1 quick time, it's gone from 60p to 34p.


Good to have some balance isn't it? .....I know of a few posters who much appreciated my posts on JCR & said it saved them getting burnt.


If your statement were true, I'd be posting reguarly on about 30 threads not two.


Also unlike you I don't resort to calling posters a t*** or c*** as you did me earlier in this thread.....the bulls don't act very dignified manner on here do they? Why not tell us why we should be buying at this "cheap" level instead of attacking the poster?

Good spot Invisage. SCD, HCEG, JCR, DATA, ZOO, RAB, sure there are others. All stocks GF has drawn people's attentions to, all posted negatively by Third Eye even though he has never owned them. Further apart from the ofex stock he has 90,000 or whatever of, I have never seen him post positively about anything on here. Bit like the spin department of a major political organisation!!

Given management's sad seeming reluctance to act decisively with regard to Third Eye, (my recent p-m contact did not receive even the courtesy of a reply, Ian)it is left to us as individual posters to point out this character's conduct on this site.

People caught on now to Third Eye's little crusade to discredit and abuse other posters rather than what he tries thinly to disguise as debate. He has no genuine interest in this share or the others i have highlighted here. I have seen him get banned elsewhere for precisely this sort of conduct and believe the same must happen here for the sake of this site.

And why does he only post on threads by GF or Hawick but never "warns" people about other stocks he doesn't own. Even warned people not to buy NLR for weeks - he was worried about management pay, Aim listing for US stock, unrealistic forecasts, then announced with utter brass neck on another site he'd bought them.

Clearly not a poster we can trust, as I have long suspected.

If i had more funds available for this sector i would be adding to RAB at these levels. Recent broker note said fair value 57p, giving a potential 60% upside.

Just don't be surprised if he appears as a RAB shareholder at some point, despite his scaremongering about investigations into hedge funds etc.

You see ThirdEye. booohhhhhhhhhhh

This thread gets funnier every time i read it. It seems that Third Eye is the only poster with the slightest grasp of the fundamentals of investing. I have posted before that I see RAB as a good long term investment, but that I agreed with Third Eye that it was overpriced. Why do you all persist in refusing to recognise the risks associated with a stock, and the fact that it was overpriced due to hyping, both in the financial press and on this and similar boards. If you do not understand the market put your money in a bank account. Do not take criticism of a stock as a personal criticism of yourselves. Third Eye has offered nothing but valid criticism of this stock based on sound financial analysis. Just because he does not see the possible positive side of a stock is not a basis for abusing him personally.

Thankyou Sharecaster for a bit of common sense (long overdue).

I'm ambivalent about the valuation of this share at the moment - I think the rise was overdone (too many punters following momentum and not buying on fundamentals) but I now suspect the fall might be overdone too. I won't be buying just yet though.

Third Eye's biggest holding was bought at levels up to 110p. The company now has turnover of 48k for the last six months, losses and the shares are about 10p, grasp lol!!! He still holds.
I have never denied the risks here, but the fall is overdone and I have read the analysts note and agree that 57p is fair value. Current price 35p strong buy imho.

Check out the link from Janus on the Bioprogress thread--it will make you all realise that there is a lot going on we know nothing about!

Thanks sharecaster.

If they wish to slag me off, maybe it's for a reason, ie...they want to avoid posting about RAB because they have no idea how to demonstrate how it's cheap ........so they divert attention instead.

But I'll do as the moderators ask, still to RAB which is down again after trying to get momentum this morning.

I think RAB is one to avoid at least until the next meaningful newsflow.

Just one simple question thirdeye , would you be posting on this thread if I had not posted here?, in fact no I will answer it, no you wouldnt.

Its a personal vendetta and one we can do without on this board.

I remember what you said about the price of gold and how the bubble had burst along with other metals and that was at $373, last time I looked int was in the $390s.

And yes I still maintain a Quid quick time. Remember I am a long term investor thirdeye many times holding over 5 years or more, now we wouldnt want you too misrepresent me would we.

See you at a quid, in quick time.

cheers GF.

I am entitled to post on whatever I think overvalued or undervalued or fair price.

I repeat I was corect about JCR & I am correct short term at least on RAB...those who listened and still want to buy can buy for 35p instead of 55p...36% cheaper....those who bought at 60p may well have been able to get in at 30p, if they had listened to those who suggested this stock had been very selectively written about.

Now please stick to posting about RAB goldfinger.


PS Those of you who only want to hear bullish comments, it's easy filter out all the nasty bearish comments you don't want to read!

The sensible folk listen to both sides then decide.

Stick to RAB he says, I have done its you thats talking about JCR for some reason. You have tried to misrepresent me on your last post bar this one.

Yes I stick by my quid quick time, no problem. And yes you were wrong on gold and other metal prices and your last post shows you on the back foot as per the norm.

Doesnt seem that you have caught on that sentiment on nearlly all stocks is very negative at the moment and as been for a couple of months now. Mind on the illiquid Ofex market nothing much changes month after month so I cant really blame you for your lack of vision on the main markets.

cheers GF.

It would be nice if you can give some fundamental analysis why they should reach 1 quick time.

Care to say what 'quick' is in your vocabulary....4 weeks? ....2 months?

ALREADY given my fundie analysis. And as for Quick time much longer than the period of time you are trying to misrepresent me with. I do wish you would put a stop to these personal attacks and this personal vendetta you have against me.

Trying to misrepresent someone in my book is as bad as the crime of ramping.

Ok I would say most people interpret quick time as within a three month period, I guess you must be happy with that or maybe if you realise that most would think that perhaps you may think you should change it?

As for you fundamental analysis no where do I see where it justifies 1 share price (or are you just looking at the best performing fund & ignoring all the others?)....if you don't want to tell us how 1 is justified then I understand.

Sorry thirdeye, once again misrepresenting and trying to put negative thoughts into investors minds.

Its quite simple what is short term, medium term and long term but perhaphs because of your ignorance of the main markets you do not have any experience of the main markets brokers terminology, well sorry but thats not my job.

Perhaps you should look it up as an apprentice to the main markets, lets not forget we have all had to do the same.

I wish you the best of luck and I hope you grasp the terminology fairly quickly, failing that and you dont understand please forward on a PM and I will explain it to you step by step.

cheers GF.

GF

Why bother to respond to him?

Just Ignore him!

I'm just waiting to see the bottom so when the shorting is over I'll get back in again.

The price just looks more attractive every day.

The link from Janus on the Bioprogress thread makes the drop a little clearer.

Apple I agree, in fact Im think we should all ignore him on this thread, just let him blah blah and blah to himself.

Many thanks for the help cheers GF.

Gf I seemed to have grasped that this share would hit 40p & then fall further (now 32p bid) while your grasp was it would be a 1 quick time.

I leave you to work out who has the better grasp.