A new and rising star – a company designed to be around for the long term.

New Star is a young investment management company committed to offering investors superior performance. Founded in June 2000, the company has built its funds under management to £7.6 billion ($13.9 billion)* while the number of individual holdings in its retail funds have risen to 650,000.

New Star was created by John Duffield, whose track record speaks for itself. As founder of Jupiter Asset Management, he built one of the UK’s leading investment management businesses, with an average 41% per annum growth in funds under management between 1989 and 1999. He left Jupiter in the spring of 2000.

New Star is backed by some of the world’s leading institutions and private investors. Its objective has been to develop through organic growth and significant acquisitions. The first acquisition was made in December 2000 when New Star acquired WorldInvest, a London-based global investment manager, now renamed New Star Institutional Managers.

Since then, the company has passed a series of significant milestones. In July 2001 its first two core retail products were launched into the market to widespread acclaim. Setting what is believed to be a UK record for an open-ended funds launch, the company raised in excess of £250 million during the three-week offer period for the two funds, UK Growth and European Growth. Seven more funds were launched during the subsequent two years, broadening the range to include equity income, specialist equity, fixed income and balanced products.

In a programme designed to attain critical mass in retail fund management, New Star made three further acquisitions during 2003. In February contracts to manage fixed income, equity income and technology funds were purchased from Aberdeen Asset Management. In June contracts to manage funds focussed on investment trust shares were bought from Exeter Investment Group and in October the company purchased contracts to run retail funds formerly managed by Edinburgh Fund Managers. This transaction broadened the range of international funds and took New Star into the fund of funds sector.

By the end of 2003, two and a half years after the foundation of New Star’s onshore retail business, the sales total had risen to more than £1.5 billion. New Star is now the UK’s largest independent retail fund management group and is among the top 20 retail fund management groups in the country. In the international market, New Star had within its first three years of operation launched pan-European and Japanese hedge funds, a capital guaranteed equity income fund and a Dublin-based OEIC offering investors access to a range of seven retail equity and fixed income funds.

Outside retail fund management, the company bought a contract to manage certain institutional funds in January 2004. New Star employs more than 190 staff, of whom 50 are investment professionals, and it has offices in London, Dublin, Bermuda and Hong Kong. The equity ownership has been arranged so that all staff will share in New Star’s success. Key managers and staff own the majority of the equity and the board has also made sure all staff have the same goals by giving them each a shareholding. New Star targets staff who want to be part of a young and dynamic business and it has a work hard philosophy at the heart of its corporate culture.

New Stars who make the difference, responding dynamically to changing client requirements and market circumstances.

At New Star, the founding principle is to bring together the very best experience in the investment world – individuals with proven management abilities and entrepreneurial skills. New Star has attracted a senior management team of outstanding pedigree. These handpicked individuals from the financial services industry share the same vision – to build New Star into a highly successful, dynamic business. Unlike many other fund management groups, New Star carries no baggage from the past and the emphasis at board level is on quick decisions based on experience. Once decisions are made they are implemented in a timeframe others would scarcely contemplate.

An investment team built for success New Star has a team of fund managers distinguished by their excellent performance track records, talent and energy. These proven professionals, who form one of the strongest investment teams in the industry, manage funds for individual investors and large institutions. In building our business we have created an environment in which they can focus on investment with as much freedom as possible (subject always to rigorous monitoring and control). New Star is, however, more than just a collection of talented individuals. Our culture encourages our investment teams to share and debate stock ideas in a dynamic and free thinking atmosphere. Alan Miller, chief investment officer, Richard Pease, director of European equities, and Gregor Logan, joint deputy chief investment officer, are joined by some of the industry’s most experienced personnel to form a senior investment team of strength and depth.

*Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance