Singapore, 19 Nov 2004...The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today lifted the suspension of recognition for two non-retail collective investment schemes.
2 The two schemes are CSA Absolute Return Fund (Dublin) Ltd and CSA Absolute Return Plus Fund. In Singapore, these two restricted schemes may be offered to sophisticated investors only.
3 MAS suspended the recognition of these two schemes on 18 June 2004, after Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission issued a restriction notice on 15 June 2004 to prohibit the manager of the schemes, Charles Schmitt and Associates Limited, from carrying on fund management, investment advisory and corporate finance activities.
4 MAS' lifting of the suspension follows the change in the manager for the two schemes to Oria Capital, Ltd. an investment advisory company licensed by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission. The CSA Absolute Return Fund (Dublin) Ltd and CSA Absolute Return Plus Fund have since been renamed Oria Market Neutral Fund Ltd and Oria Plus Fund Ltd, respectively. Public accountants Grant Thornton and Moore Stephens International conducted limited reviews and found no irregularities in these two schemes.
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Notes to Editors:
1 The restriction notice by Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission on 15 June 2004 was issued on suspicion that client assets might have been misappropriated from the CSA Absolute Return Fund. MAS suspended the recognition of this fund, together with the CSA Absolute Return Fund (Dublin) Ltd and CSA Absolute Return Plus Fund, on 18 June 2004. The CSA Absolute Return Fund has since been placed under provisional liquidation.
2 For a foreign scheme to be recognised for offer to sophisticated investors, the manager of the scheme must be licensed or regulated in its home jurisdiction and be a fit and proper person.
[Please see Securities and Futures (Offers of Investments) (CIS) Regulations 2002 Fifth Schedule paragraph 3]. Oria Capital Ltd is licensed under the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Ordinance for advising on securities and asset management.
3 Restricted schemes offered only to sophisticated investors are not subject to the investment guidelines and other requirements in the Code on Collective Investment Schemes.
4 As defined in section 305 of the Securities and Futures Act, sophisticated investor means -
a) person who acquires units in a collective investment scheme, pursuant to the offer or invitation in question, as principal if the aggregate consideration for the acquisition is not less than $200,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) for each transaction whether such amount is paid for in cash, by exchange of shares or other assets; or
b) a person who acquires units, pursuant to the offer or invitation in question, as principal and
(i) whose total net personal assets exceed $2 million (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) or whose income in the preceding 12 months is not less than $300,000 (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) at the time of the acquisition; or
(ii) in the case of a corporation, whose total net assets exceed $10 million in value (or its equivalent in a foreign currency) as determined by the last audited balance-sheet of the corporation, or (if the corporation is not required to prepare audited accounts) a balance-sheet of the corporation certified by the corporation as giving a true and fair view of the state of affairs of the corporation as of the date of the balance-sheet, which is a date that is no earlier than 12 months before the date on which the offer or invitation is made to the corporation; or
c) an officer of the person making the offer or invitation or a spouse, parent, brother, sister, son or daughter of that officer or of the person making the offer or invitation, if he is an individual.