Fund management changes hands, new fund administration business founded

02 June 2003

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The management of Bamboo Investments has been passed to Close Brothers by Michael Stoddart, and in a separate move, Ansbacher Fund Services launched a new administration service to focus exclusively on European private equity and fund-of-funds business.

Bamboo Investments comprises a range of early-stage, hi-tech investments. The value of the Bamboo Investment Trustâ€™s portfolio has decreased from Â£6m to between Â£3.5m to Â£4m, and net asset value on the privately owned company is estimated to have fallen from Â£1 to 64p.

The Bamboo board has decided to offer shareholders some liquidity, and will be returning a total of Â£7m through a buy-in of shares, at 63.7p each.

The management of the company has been passed to Close Brothers, who will work with James Stoddart, the current CEO of Bamboo Investments and Michael Stoddartâ€™s son, to extract maximum value out of the remaining assets.

There remains Â£3.4m uninvested cash in the portfolio, and Close Brothers reports that this will be used both to support existing investments and to look for new ones. There is a possibility that Close Brothers may coinvest alongside new Bamboo investments. Close Brothers reports that it is looking for more opportunities to manage portfolios.

Meanwhile, a new fund administration business has been launched by Ansbacher Fund Services. AFS has been granted FSA authorisation to administer UK-based structures, including private equity limited partnerships. It also has offshore fund adminstration capabilities through offices in Germany, Jersey and Cayman.

Barry Carroll is global head of AFS, and expects the present tough climate to precipitate the numbers of private equity firms seeking outsourced administration.