U.S.-Registered Investec Funds Becomes Guinness At

May 01, 2003 at 08:00 PM
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April 29, 2003 — Shareholders of Investec Group Ltd.'s U.S.-registered mutual funds approved Guinness Atkinson Asset Management LLC as the new manager and distributor of the Investec funds available to U.S. residents.

As a consequence, the former Investec Asia Focus Fund (IASMX) will now be called as Guinness Atkinson Asia Focus Fund.

The former Investec China & Hong Kong Fund (ICHKX) will now be called Guinness Atkinson China & Hong Kong Fund. Moreover, the stockholders of the Investec Mainland China Fund (ICHNX) approved the merger of that fund into the new China & Hong Kong Fund.

In addition, the former Investec Wired Index Fund (IWIRX) will now be known as the Guinness Atkinson Global Innovators Fund. Whereas the Wired Index Fund was an index product, the Global Innovators Fund will be actively managed by Tim Guinness.

The company noted that these actions followed a decision by Investec Group, the parent company of the former manager, Investec Asset Management U.S. Ltd., to shift the focus of Investec Asset's business efforts in North America to the distribution of the firm's offshore funds.

Edmund Harriss, who managed the old Investec China & Hong Kong Fund, will manage the new Guinness Atkinson China & Hong Kong Fund. Robert Conlon was formerly the lead manager of the Mainland China Fund and Asia Focus Fund. Further details on Conlon were unavailable.

For the year ended March 31, the Mainland China Fund edged down 4.7%, the Wired Index Fund dropped 29.2%, the China & Hong Kong Fund was down 15.4% and the Asia Focus Fund fell 22.7%.

Guinness Atkinson Asset Management, created in 2002, is headed by Tim Guinness and Jim Atkinson.

Tim Guinness was founder of the former Guinness Flight, a London-based global asset manager. Jim Atkinson was previously head of U.S. operations for Guinness Flight, and president of the Guinness Flight family of funds, launched in the U.S. in 1994. Investec acquired Guinness Flight and the fund family in 1998, and the name of the funds were later changed to Investec.

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