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

it will bounce back strong.... just hold on there

31.5p I think that now is the time for me to get back in!

topped up.... even TE will jump on this.

Ive added aswell. Dont like averaging down in fact think its wrong, tend to think of each buy as a tranche and also sell that way. Great way to make money over a longish time span.

cheers GF

UP already!

I seem to have timed it just right.

I see that there are some shrewd investors interested in this stock and that makes me interested!! The chart looks a bit nasty to me right now though, I think I will wait for an upturn.

Rgrds
gk

This is what I discovered noseing around: GTL sounds like a good recovery plan

LONDON (AFX) - GTL Resources PLC said it has raised 2.5 mln stg through a placing of 50 mln new ordinary shares of 1 pence at 5 pence per share.

The company said it will use the proceeds to advance its projects in Australia and the Middle East.

In addition, the company has allotted 15 mln new ordinary shares to parties associated with RAB Capital PLC under the terms of an agreement, dated Oct 15 2003.

Company RAB Capital plc
TIDM RAB
Headline Notice of Results
Released 13:52 19-Jul-04
Number 9830A



RNS Number:9830A
RAB Capital plc
19 July 2004



For immediate release 19 July 2004

RAB Capital plc - Notice of Results

RAB Capital plc, the fund management company specialising in hedge funds, will
announce its interim results for the six months ended 30 June 2004 on Wednesday,
28 July.

For further information, please contact:

Grandfield 020 7417 4170
Marc Popiolek / Samantha Robbins


This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

UP another 13% already today, very nice.

Maybe a good run up to the results on 28th July.

Was tipped today as a buy by Mark Watson-Mitchell

UK- Analyst - 21st July 2004
Buy RAB Capital

Argues Mark Watson-Mitchell of Watshot.com

RAB Capital (RAB)

This recent AIM newcomer was established in January 1999 by Michael Alen-Buckley and Philip Richards. It manages assets both in funds and segregated client accounts. RAB Capital as a fund management company is focused mainly on hedge funds. It also provides advisory and distribution services to the hedge fund industry. Its offices are in London and the Group currently has 45 employees in total.

Investment in its funds is limited to professional and non-private investors. For institutional and high net worth investors the Company focuses upon capital preservation and consistent absolute returns. At a recent count funds under management stood at some 800 million, it operates 15 different funds. Its competitors include some of the largest fund management businesses in the country who have developed their own hedge fund products.

However RAB Capital is the first stand-alone hedge fund business to gain a listing on the London market. The closest quoted competitor is Man Group, which is a global player in the alternative investments sector, as well as being one of the world's largest future brokers.

The market capitalisation of the Company was some 85.5m when it came to the AIM market in mid-March this year at a subscription price of 25p per share. It was an instant market success, with its shares flying up to 63p at the best and never being any lower than the current price of 35.5p at which level they are consolidating.

In June RAB announced successful launches of a new Energy Fund and a new Japan Fund raising US$36 million and $52 million respectively. The RAB Energy Fund is a long-short equity hedge fund focusing on oil and gas as well as alternative energy and transport. Whilst the RAB Japan Fund is a long-short equity hedge fund focusing mainly on liquid large-cap stocks. At the time Michael Alen-Buckley RAB Capital Chairman said

"These successful fund launches are important strategic building blocks for RAB Capital."

More funds under management increase the Group's fee earnings. In 2002 it made 2.8 million pre-tax profits and then leapt in 2003 to 10.6 million. That was on turnover doubling from 11.2 million to 23.2 million to end December last year. Analyst Tejinder Randhawa at brokers Evolution Beeson Gregory reckons that this year will see 40.2 million of turnover and 18.8 million of profits, worth 3.4p per share in earnings.

For the year to end December 2005 he goes for 56.1 million of turnover and 26.3 million of profits, worth an impressive 4.8p in earnings per share.

Profit Record and Future Estimates

Year to end Pre-Tax Profit Earnings Per Price Earnings
December m Share p Ratio
2003 Actual 10.6 2.0p 16.5
2004 Estimate 18.8 3.4p 9.7
2005 Estimate 26.3 4.8p 6.9

At the current price of 35.5 p I really do recommend buying the shares of RAB Capital. This growth business has the ability to grow sensibly over the next few years and as such offer significant capital growth. Just take another look at Evolution's estimates above - that is real growth. That is why these shares are a Buy.

cheers GF.

Hi all,

Please get yesterdays and todays and tomorrows FT. There is a must read FT 3 series about Hedge Funds. Excellent read and tables. RAB will make it

Thanks for the information xmortal, will pop out and get the FT. Regards Paul.

all good guys. Here is the IR. Please see the news for more details figures.

RAB Capital plc
28 July 2004


RAB Capital plc


Interim Results for the 6 months ended 30 June 2004


Chairman and Chief Executives' Report

The Group achieved a strong increase in pre-tax profits for the first half of
2004 to 2.1 million (up 393%*), on the back of turnover of 5.5 million (up
138%*). This reflects growth in assets under management to $1.5 billion (up 49%
from $994 million as at 31 December 2003) and, contained within that, the launch
of several new funds. The Board has decided to institute an interim dividend
payment of 0.1 pence for the first time in the Company's history, to reflect our
strong balance sheet and healthy revenues. In line with our conservative
accounting policies, the Board has not accrued any performance fees which are
likely to be due on certain funds for the first half performance, as these
numbers will not be finalised until 31 December 2004.

This first half of the year tells two different stories. The first quarter was a
very profitable period for RAB Capital, with most of our funds delivering good,
positive performance. However, the second quarter was a difficult time for the
hedge fund industry as a whole. RAB Capital was no different and we experienced
a disappointing quarter.

For the full year, profitability will therefore depend largely on what happens
in the second half of 2004. Last year we had a good second half and, in order to
beat it, we need to perform well again. It is a positive starting point that we
enter the second half of this year with both a broader range of funds and
greater funds under management than in 2003, and we are all determined to
achieve good returns for both investors and shareholders.

We continue to focus our efforts on running a broadly based business. At RAB
Capital we now have two types of funds. We run nine strategies where the basic
mandate is to produce steady returns in different investment markets, with
limited risk. We also have two strategies (Special Situations and Energy), which
go for much higher returns. While these two strategies have higher volatility,
they have the potential to produce very high profitability for our investors and
our shareholders.

As well as building an absolute return fund business, we are positioning
ourselves as a company that strategically takes advantage of world trends. Our
view is that commodities in general, metals and energy in particular, are likely
to remain strong over the coming decade and we are therefore building investment
expertise in this area. Special Situations and Energy pursue niche strategies
within this sector and our funds have several investments that could be very
important strategically for the business. These investments range widely and
include large coalfields in Asia and Canada, oilfields from the Ukraine to the
South Atlantic, gold and copper mines serving China in the Far East,
breakthrough technologies in fuel cells and alternative hydrocarbon fuels. We
believe that this special emphasis on commodities sets us apart from many of our
competitors. In addition, despite the success of our High Yield strategy and
Global Macro exposure, we remain an equity-orientated investment house and
continue to launch new equity strategies. A Japan strategy was launched in June
2004 and a North American strategy will be launched shortly. Furthermore, we
have strategic plans to increase our exposure to the Far East and Emerging
Markets.

Our recent listing was an important milestone in our development as a
sustainable business and delivered a very strong balance sheet for the Company.
We are encouraged that the principle of attracting investment talent is working
and, as we go into the second half of the year, we are busy assessing the
prospects for new absolute return strategies in complementary areas. We thank
investors and shareholders for their continued confidence in us and we remain
focused on growing the business for the long term, through both positive and
negative business cycles.

Michael Alen-Buckley Philip Richards
Chairman Chief Executive

Fully Diluted Earnings per share 0.32p


Annualised fully diluted p/e 56 which is why the market is dissapointed.

If they make 0.5p second half @ 0.82p p/e 44 fully diluted.


were some suggesting 3.4p eps earlier in this thread?

Got to be worth a top up at this price

Forward PE way to high, needs to half before it becmes reasonable value.

I'm glad I took my small profit a while back.

topped up today

Goldfinger are you still holding? Any comments? I am tempted to add.