Placing of new redeemable shares and NAV
For immediate release 8 March 2005
PANTHEON INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATIONS PLC
PLACING OF UP TO 20 MILLION NEW REDEEMABLE SHARES AND NET ASSET VALUE AT 31
JANUARY 2005
PLACING OF UP TO 20,000,000 NEW REDEEMABLE SHARES
The Board of Pantheon International Participations PLC (`PIP') announces today
that listing particulars have been published in relation to the proposed
placing of up to 20,000,000 new redeemable shares of 1p each in the capital of
the Company (the 'Placing').
The placing price will be at 577.37p per new redeemable share, representing the
unaudited net asset value per share as at 31 January 2005.
The Company has recently participated in the acquisitions of two substantial
portfolios of secondary private equity fund interests in relation to which the
Company's share of the total transaction consideration is approximately
US$172m. In order principally to better position itself to participate in
future opportunities, the Company needs to raise additional funds. Accordingly,
the Company is seeking to raise up to approximately £115.5 million by way of
the Placing. The Board believes that growth in the market for secondary
interests in private equity funds will continue to provide the Company with
attractive investment opportunities.
The Company has drawn down approximately £41 million of its principal £80
million loan facility from The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC for the purpose of
funding the acquisitions referred to above. The net proceeds of the Placing
will be applied towards repaying these borrowings and, subject to such
repayment, in completing the funding of the acquisitions. Any balance will be
used to increase the Company's capacity for future investments in accordance
with the Company's investment policy.
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has, as agent for the Company, conditionally
agreed to implement the Placing at the placing price. The Placing is not
underwritten.
The Placing will be undertaken pursuant to the general authority to allot
shares granted by the Company's shareholders at the last annual general meeting
on 25 November 2004. Application has been made to the UK Listing Authority for
the new redeemable shares to be issued in connection with the Placing to be
admitted to the Official List and to the London Stock Exchange for those
securities to be admitted to trading on the London Stock Exchange's market for
listed securities. It is expected that such admission will become effective and
that dealings in the new redeemable shares will commence on 30 March 2005. The
new redeemable shares will rank pari passu with the existing redeemable shares
in issue.
The full text of the listing particulars is available for inspection at the
UKLA
Document Viewing Facility, 25 The North Colonnade, Canary Wharf, London E14
5HS.
NET ASSET VALUE AT 31 JANUARY 2005
For the purposes of the Placing, the Board of the Company announces an
unaudited net asset value per share of 577.37p at 31 January 2005 (578.95p at
31 December 2004 and 585.38p at 30 September 2004).
As previously disclosed, PIP recently committed to participate in the
acquisitions of two substantial portfolios of secondary private equity fund
interests in relation to which the Company's share of the total transaction
consideration is approximately US$172m. One of these transactions is still in
the process of execution and, as at 31 January 2005, transfers had been
executed in respect of 44 out of a total of 59 funds across both portfolios.
The Company's valuation policy for private equity funds is to base the
valuations on the latest periodic valuations produced by the fund managers
(attributable valuation). In the case of the valuation as at 31 January 2005,
the majority of these accounts are dated September 2004. However, PIP's
valuation policy for private equity fund interests acquired as secondaries is
to value them at the lower of cost or attributable valuation until a periodic
valuation dated subsequent to completion of the acquisition has been received
from the underlying fund manager. Thus, where a secondary interest has been
acquired at a premium to attributable value, it is normally written down
immediately. The total downwards adjustment in respect of premia arising on
purchases of secondary interests acquired prior to 31 January 2005 amounted to
£7.9 million. It is expected that some of this downwards adjustment will be
offset in the current and next calendar quarter.
Private equity funds may contain a proportion of quoted shares from time to
time, for example where the underlying company investments have been taken
public but the holdings have not yet been sold. PIP's Manager, Pantheon
Ventures Limited, has reviewed the quoted market holdings at the date of the
latest fund accounts and has considered the value of those holdings at 31
January 2005. As there has been a decrease in the value of these holdings since
31st December 2004, in accordance with normal practice the Directors have made
appropriate adjustment to reflect this.
The unaudited net assets attributable to ordinary shareholders and redeemable
shareholders at 31 January 2005 stood at £247.3m (£247.9m at 31 December 2004
and £250.7m at 30 September 2004).
### Ends ###
For more information:
Pantheon International Participations PLC 020 7484 6200
Rhoddy Swire
Pantheon Ventures 020 7484 6200
Alastair Bruce / Andrew Lebus
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein 020 7623 8000
Robbie Robertson/Andrew Zychowski
www.pipplc.com contactus@pipplc.com
Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein Securities Limited, which is authorised and
regulated by the Financial Services Authority, is acting for the Company and
for no-one else in
connection with the Placing and will not be responsible to anyone other than
the Company for providing the protections afforded to customers of Dresdner
Kleinwort Wasserstein Securities Limited, or for affording advice in relation
to the
Placing.
NOTES TO EDITORS
PIP
* Pantheon International Participations (`PIP') is a London quoted investment
trust, managed by Pantheon Ventures Ltd., which uses an international
fund-of-funds approach to private equity investment.
* PIP has investments in over 300 private equity fund investments.
* The Company is the longest-established private equity fund-of-funds
investor quoted on the London Stock Exchange. PIP enables individuals as
well as institutions to gain access to a substantial portfolio of unquoted
companies in the USA, the UK, Continental Europe and Asia, within funds
managed by experienced private equity managers.
* Within its stated primary investment objective, the Company invests in
private equity funds both by subscribing to new funds and by acquiring
secondary interests. As an adjunct to this activity, the Company may
occasionally acquire direct holdings in unquoted companies usually where a
vendor is seeking to sell a combined portfolio of funds and direct
holdings. PIP's investment policy also extends to investing directly in
companies where there is a private equity manager well known to the Company
investing on the same terms.
Pantheon
* Pantheon has been active in the private equity sector since 1982.
* Pantheon is the leading private equity fund-of-funds manager in Europe and
had £4.4 billion under management at 30 June 2004.
* Pantheon manages investments in some 600 private equity funds in over 30
countries.
* Pantheon operates from offices in London, San Francisco, Hong Kong and
Brussels.
* Since early 2004, Pantheon has been part of Russell Investment Group, a
global leader in multi-manager investing, becoming Russell's global private
equity fund-of-funds business.
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