Valletta Fund Management Limited (VFM) has announced an important development earlier this month when shareholders of the La Valette Mediterranean Rim Fund resolved to migrate the Mediterranean Rim Fund as from 1 July 2008 to the Vilhena Funds SICAV plc which is UCITS certified thereby making it possible for this Fund to be promoted across Europe.

Peter Perotti, general manager of VFM said: “We believe this to be a very important step and we are confident that the Vilhena Mediterranean Rim Fund can be actively promoted across Europe in view of its unique positioning in terms of its investment objective and geographical allocation. Moreover, the past performance of the Fund since its launch has been extremely encouraging with an annualised return from launch to 31 May 2008 of 11.53 per cent.”

The UCITS Directive was introduced to allow funds authorised by the Regulator in any EU Member State to be available and sold to customers elsewhere in the EU without requiring further authorisation, thereby attaining the goal of setting a single market for financial services in Europe. Moreover, VFM is the first company in Malta licensed as a “Maltese Management Company” pursuant to the Undertaking for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities and Management Companies Regulations. The Vilhena Funds SICAV plc qualified as a UCITS scheme on 6 July 2007.

Mr Perotti added: “As soon as Malta became a member of the European Union on 1 May 2004, VFM started looking at the EU market more actively. VFM has always been very active in its strategy to be Malta’s leading provider of investment products by introducing a comprehensive range of funds. Throughout the last months, we have seen increasing interest by EU nationals in the Mediterranean Rim Fund deeming that this Fund has a fit in their investment portfolio both because of its unique structure in investing in the developing countries bordering the Mediterranean as well as for its performance and proven track record.”

The migration of the Mediterranean Rim Fund to the Vilhena Funds SICAV plc will not change the investment objective, investment policies, currency and underlying investments of the Mediterranean Rim Fund.

The Fund is denominated in US Dollars and the minimum investment amount is USD 5,000. Investors requiring additional information on UCITS and the Mediterranean Rim Fund may call at VFM, at any Bank of Valletta branch or any licensed financial intermediary.