Leading Investment Trusts Listed in Germany

Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust PLC
Foreign & Colonial Pacific Investment Trust PLC
Foreign & Colonial Eurotrust PLC
Foreign & Colonial Smaller Companies PLC
Foreign & Colonial Emerging Markets Investment Trust PLC
10 December 1999


                              FOREIGN & COLONIAL
                                       
                  LISTS LEADING INVESTMENT TRUSTS IN GERMANY


Foreign  &  Colonial  Management  (FCM), a leading  UK  investment  management
company,  today  announces  that  it  has received  the  necessary  regulatory
approvals  to  list five of the largest investment trusts it  manages  on  the
Frankfurt Stock Exchange.

The  listings mark the first quotation on a European Stock Exchange of any  UK
investment  trust and form part of Foreign & Colonial's (F&C) active  strategy
of  promoting greater liquidity and investor demand for its investment  trusts
generally.

The  move will also complement F&C's commitment to the AITC's its campaign  by
marking  the  first  significant step to increase the  market  for  investment
trusts in Europe.

The investment trusts concerned are:

-   Foreign & Colonial Investment Trust
-   Foreign & Colonial Pacific Investment Trust
-   Foreign & Colonial Eurotrust
-   Foreign & Colonial Smaller Companies
-   Foreign & Colonial Emerging Markets Investment Trust


Reasons for listing the above investment trusts in Frankfurt include:

- The listings will exploit the opportunity presented by recent legislation
  allowing closed end investment funds in Germany;

- F&C believes that the investment trust vehicle is specifically appealing
  to the rapidly growing German savings market, which is particularly         
  attracted by the low-cost structure of such funds;

- The  listings, which will involve Euro quotations, will give the  trusts
  concerned  access to investors across the Eurozone as a whole,  as  well  as
  specifically within Germany;

- The  listings  follow  the  successful listing  of  Foreign  &  Colonial
  Investment  Trust  and  other investment trusts on  the  New  Zealand  Stock
  Exchange.

The listings will be sponsored by HypoVereinsbank, FCM's parent company.   FCM
already  acts  as  investment adviser for over £6bn of HypoVereinsbank-sourced
German   retail  money  out  of  London,  underlining  the  highly  successful
relationship between the two companies.

Commenting, Jeremy Tigue, F&C's Head of Investment Trusts, said:

     'F&C  has  always  been  in the forefront of developing  new  sources  of
     investor  demand for investment trusts. We believe this latest initiative
     will  enable  us  to  exploit the huge potential of the  rapidly  growing
     German  savings  market with a broad range of investment  trusts  -  each
     recognised as a leader in its chosen field and supported by an  excellent
     track record'

Commenting  on  today's announcement Robert Jenkins, Chief Executive  of  FCM,
said:

     'Whether  in  the fields of corporate governance, savings & pension  fund
     product  development,  share  buy-backs or  management  fees,  Foreign  &
     Colonial  remains at the forefront of innovation in the investment  trust
     industry.
     
     'The  move announced today to list our leading managed investment  trusts
     on  Continental Europe's largest Stock Exchange is the latest example  of
     such  innovation and is a further illustration of the uniquely successful
     working relationship between F&C and HypoVereinsbank in action'      
     
For further information please contact:

Jeremy Tigue
Director, Head of Investment Trusts
Foreign & Colonial Management                             0171 628 8000

Charles Watson, Claire Barry
Financial Dynamics                                        0171 831 3113


Attached:  Notes to Editors

NOTES TO EDITORS

-   German Retail Market
During the last decade the German retail savings market was driven by a  shift
in investors' sentiment.  Mutual funds under management increased from
DM128  billion  in the year 1990 to DM 564 billion in September  1999.  Equity
funds  especially  became  more  and more important,  as  the  investors  took
advantage  of  the booming stock market.  Nevertheless, at  the  end  of  1998
mutual  funds  amounted to only 8.4 % of the DM 5.7 trillion of German  retail
savings.


-   HypoVereinsbank
The formation of HypoVereinsbank created the largest real estate financier  in
Europe  and  Germany's  second  largest bank,  serving  more  than  4  million
customers.  The  activities are focused on four core  competencies:  mortgage
banking, asset management, structured finance and selected financial products.
With a staff of almost 45,000 employees HypoVereinsbank operates a network  of
more  than 1,400 branches throughout Germany and Europe as well as in selected
financial centres world-wide.

FCM is a 90% owned subsidiary of HypoVereinsbank.


-   Foreign & Colonial
Foreign  & Colonial Management, including Foreign & Colonial Emerging  Markets
Limited  and  F&C  Ventures Limited, now manages twelve  UK-quoted  investment
trusts,  as  well as a number of SIB authorised unit trusts, Luxembourg  based
companies, specialist offshore funds, exempt funds, Dublin-listed trusts and a
New York Stock Exchange-listed company.

The   combined  Foreign  &  Colonial  institutional  and  retail  funds  under
management totals over £25 billion.

Foreign & Colonial created the world's first collective investment vehicle  in
1868 - the same year Gladstone first became Prime Minster - raising £1,000,000
to  invest  in  the  government securities of foreign countries  and  colonial
territories.  The Evening Star - as well as a number of other London papers  -
quoted this phrase from the prospectus:  'The object of this Trust is to  give
the investor of moderate means the same advantages as the large capitalist  in
diminishing  the risk of investing in Foreign and Colonial Government  Stocks,
by spreading the investment over a number of different Stocks'.

The  investment  trust industry was born from this; in March 1868,  Foreign  &
Colonial  was  the only investment trust quoted on the London Stock  Exchange.
Now  there are over 350 quoted investment trusts representing over £60 billion
under management.

Since  those pioneering days, Foreign & Colonial has added a number  of  other
'firsts'  which  have also been copied by its competitors,  for  example,  the
launch of the first investment trust share savings plan in 1984 and the launch
of the first investment trust based pension plan in 1994.

The  listing coincides with the commencement of NAVs being quoted on  a  daily
basis.