euro adhoc: C-QUADRAT Investment AG
Strategic management decisions
C-QUADRAT
Investment AG restructures portfolio and Management Board
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Company Information
19.12.2008
Participation in Absolute Plus Group to be sold Revaluation of retail brokerage interests Cash flow in 2008 climbs to new record Markus Ullmer and Roland Starha newly appointed to Management Board of C-QUADRAT Investment AG; co-founder Thomas Rieß moves to Management Board of C-QUADRAT Kapitalanlage AG Eric Samuiloff and Peter Reisenhofer retire from Board positions
Vienna/Frankfurt, 19.12.2008. C-QUADRAT Investment AG plans to discontinue its hedge fund activities. The rationale behind this strategic decision is management´s anticipation of persistent deterioration in the market environment, accompanied by a significant increase in risks.
As a consequence of focusing on its core asset management business, C-QUADRAT Investment AG will sell its 50 percent plus one share in the Absolute Plus Group for around one million Euros as per 31.12.2008. Said Group is specialised in marketing alternative investments. Streamlining the portfolio will also involve revaluing the participations in Ariconsult Holding AG (25.1%) and in C-QUADRAT Private Investments AG (98.39%). Both the latter are financial services companies in the retail brokerage field and do not belong to the core business of the C-QUADRAT Group, namely asset management.
This package of measures will result in extraordinary depreciation, after minority interest, of around EUR 11.5 million in fiscal 2008. This extraordinary depreciation will have no impact on the cash flow or liquidity of the company. Any net loss for C-QUADRAT Investment AG as a result of the extraordinary depreciation will be offset by the appropriated capital reserves generated by the IPO in 2006 (amounting to EUR 26.5 million as at 30.09.2008). The ability of the company to pay a dividend in the 2009 business year and thereafter will not be affected.
Beginning in 2009, the steps now being taken will have positive impacts on the earning power of C-QUADRAT Investment AG, in that around EUR 1.8 million in annual ordinary depreciation for the client base will no longer be incurred.
A good operating profit for 2008 is nevertheless expected. Despite the extremely difficult environment currently facing investment companies, an EBITDA well into positive territory is expected, while cash flow will prospectively reach the highest level since C-QUADRAT Investment AG was founded in 1991.
Parallel to restructuring of the investment portfolio, there will also be some changes in the executive bodies of the C-QUADRAT Group. Markus Ullmer, Chief Legal Counsel of C-QUADRAT Investment AG for many years, and Roland Starha, the long-serving Head of Finance, will be appointed to the Management Board of C-QUADRAT Investment AG in the course of January 2009, following approval by the Austrian Financial Market Authority (FMA). Peter Reisenhofer will be leaving the Management Board and will be self-employed within the framework of an existing consulting firm.
The management team at C-QUADRAT KAG will be reinforced when company co-founder Thomas Rieß moves from the Management Board of C-QUADRAT Investment AG to that of the Kapitalanlage AG, where he will take over from Eric Samuiloff, who will be accepting a new challenge in the financial services field.
From 2009 onwards, the Management Board of C-QUADRAT Investment AG will therefore comprise Alexander Schütz, Andreas Wimmer, Roland Starha and Markus Ullmer. At C-QUADRAT Kapitalanlage AG, the Management Board members will be Thomas Rieß, Christian Jost and Dr. Heinrich Wohlfahrt.
C-QUADRAT- the fund company - is an independent asset manager operating across Europe. Founded in 1991, the company has had is own asset management company with a bank licence since 2003 and has been listed in the Prime Standard of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since November 2006 and in the Prime Standard of the Vienna Stock Exchange since May 2008. The C-QUADRAT team has made a name for itself across Europe with its asset management, analysis and investment fund management activities and by devising structured products. Innovative investment strategies for institutional investors round off the product offering. Many banks, insurance companies and financial service providers operating internationally rely on the expertise of C-QUADRAT.
end of announcement euro adhoc --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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Sandy Pfaff
MB Dialog
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Branche: Financial & Business Services
ISIN: AT0000613005
WKN:
Index: Prime.market
Börsen: Börse Frankfurt / official market
Wiener Börse AG / official market
Original content of: C-QUADRAT Investment AG, transmitted by news aktuell