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LONDON (Standard & Poor's) Nov. 3, 2008--Standard & Poor's Ratings Services
said today that it assigned its 'AAAf' fund credit quality rating and 'S1+'
volatility rating to three offshore liquidity subfunds of Nedgroup Investments
Funds PLC. The 'AAAf' ratings assigned signify the extremely strong protection
the funds' portfolios provide against losses from credit defaults. The 'S1+'
volatility ratings recognize that the three subfunds will demonstrate
extremely low sensitivity to changing market conditions.
The fund credit quality and fund volatility ratings have been assigned to
the following Isle of Man registered funds:
-- Nedgroup Investments Funds PLC – The US Dollar Fund
-- Nedgroup Investments Funds PLC – The Sterling Fund
-- Nedgroup Investments Funds PLC – The Euro Fund
Nedgroup Investments (IOM) Ltd. has established these three money market
subfunds to offer its clients the opportunity to invest in offshore vehicles
providing a high-quality, low-risk alternative to cash deposits, denominated
in British pounds sterling, euros, and U.S. dollars.
The investment objective of the subfunds is long-term capital growth
through direct or indirect investment in cash deposits, money market
instruments, and other investment funds. The subfunds will be managed as
feeder funds, exclusively investing in three Thomas Miller Investments
sponsored TMI Liquidity Fund PLC subfunds, namely the:
-- TMI Sterling Liquidity Sub-Fund
-- TMI Dollar Liquidity Sub-Fund
-- TMI Euro Liquidity Sub-Fund
All three TMI Liquidity Fund PLC subfunds are rated 'AAAf/S1+' by
Standard & Poor's.
Looking through to the composition of the TMI Liquidity Fund PLC
subfunds, acting as master funds for the three Nedgroup Investments Funds PLC
subfunds, all three invest in a diversified portfolio of high-quality money
market instruments and longer dated fixed-income securities with maturities
not exceeding five years. Investments typically include certificates of
deposit, commercial papers, time deposits, and fixed- and floating-rate notes.
All investments are denominated in the base currency of each subfund.
Standard & Poor's assigned its 'AAAf/S1+' fund credit quality ratings and
volatility ratings to the TMI Sterling Liquidity Sub-Fund and TMI Dollar
Liquidity Sub-Fund in January 2007, and to the TMI Euro Liquidity Sub-Fund in
August 2008.
Nedgroup Investments Funds PLC is a public limited company incorporated
with unlimited duration under the provisions of the Companies Act 1931-2004 of
the Isle of Man. The fund was incorporated on Jan. 28, 1999, with the name NIB
International Investor Series PLC; on Nov. 19, 2007, it was resolved to change
the name of the fund to Nedgroup Investments Funds PLC to reflect its ongoing
association with Nedbank Ltd. (BBBpi; unsolicited rating).
Citibank N.A. (Jersey), a wholly owned subsidiary of Citigroup Inc.
(AA-/Watch Neg/A-1+), has been appointed as custodian, and Fortis Prime Fund
Solutions (IOM) Ltd. a wholly owned subsidiary of Fortis N.V. (BBB-/Watch
Neg/A-3) has been delegated to perform all administrative duties that arise in
connection with the administration of the funds.
Standard & Poor's will review pertinent fund information and portfolio
holding reports on a monthly basis, as part of its surveillance process.
This unsolicited rating(s) was initiated by Standard & Poor's. It may be
based solely on publicly available information and may or may not involve the
participation of the issuer's management. Standard & Poor's has used
information from sources believed to be reliable, but does not guarantee the
accuracy, adequacy, or completeness of any information used.
Ratings information is available to subscribers of RatingsDirect, the
real-time Web-based source for Standard & Poor's credit ratings, research, and
risk analysis, at www.ratingsdirect.com. It can also be found on Standard &
Poor's public Web site at www.standardandpoors.com; select your preferred
country or region, then Ratings in the left navigation bar, followed by Credit
Ratings Search. Alternatively, call one of the following Standard & Poor's
numbers: Client Support Europe (44) 20-7176-7176; London Press Office (44)
20-7176-3605; Paris (33) 1-4420-6708; Frankfurt (49) 69-33-999-225; Stockholm
(46) 8-440-5914; or Moscow (7) 495-783-4017.
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