Valletta Fund Management (VFM) announced an important development after shareholders of the La Valette Mediterranean Rim Fund resolved to migrate the Mediterranean Rim Fund as from 1 July to the Vilhena Funds SICAV, 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 qualified as a UCITS Scheme on 6 July 2007.

The migration of the Mediterranean Rim Fund to the Vilhena Funds SICAV 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 $5,000. Investors requiring additional information on UCITS and the Mediterranean Rim Fund can call at VFM, at any Bank of Valletta Branch or licensed financial intermediary.