UAE to host 4th Hedge Funds Conference in February

The two-day conference will take place at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel on February 4th and 5th, 2003.

Opening Dubai's action-packed economic year, 2003 is the fourth consecutive year for Hedge Funds World Middle East. The conference will host seasoned international hedge funds experts Felix Zulauf of Zulauf Asset Management and Christoph Moeller, Chief Executive Officer of Man Investment Products Switzerland, one of the world's largest Alternative Investment companies.

Man Investment Products is a member of the Man Group, which is listed in the FTSE 100 Index and the only specialised alternative investment company to have direct representation in the Arab world. It has offices in Dubai and Bahrain and joint ventures in the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

'2002 was another good year for the hedge funds industry as a whole and an excellent one for Man Investment Products,' said Antoine Massad, Associate Director for the Middle East and Asia of Man Investment Products and Chairman of Hedge Funds World Middle East. 'February's conference forms an excellent platform for the industry.'

Over 150 investors, fund managers, banking and investment experts from across the Arab world, Europe, the US and Asia are expected to attend the Hedge Funds World Middle East 2003 conference. Among them will be Mohammad Al-Abbar, Director General of the Department of Economic Development in Dubai and Philip Thorpe, Chief Commissioner, Regulatory Agency of the Dubai International Financial Centre.

Roy Gardner, General Manager and Chief Financial Strategist at the Saudi American Bank, Ibrahim Ghargour, Head of the Treasury/Asset Management at Investcorp Bank and Mohammad Seif-Elnasr, Head of Capital Markets at Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank number among the prominent speakers.

Other speakers of note include Sohail Jaffer, Chairman of the Middle East Chapter of the Alternative Investment Management Association (AIMA) and Victoria Owen, Director of Structured Products at Man Investment Products. Ms. Owen will be speaking about 'Capitalising on hedge fund structured products - understanding the complex structures.'

Announcing the details of the forthcoming event, Stefan Nilsson, Director of Hedge Fund World for Europe and the Middle East, stated that the conference is geared to address global and regional trends for the growing investment community in the region.

The conference will cover topics such as global hedge funds opportunities, risk management for investors, capacity and fund manager selection as well as hedge fund styles, strategies and products.

Hedge Funds World Middle East 2003 is endorsed by AIMA, a UK-based not-for-profit association for the alternative investment industry and is sponsored by Man

Investment Products, a specialised company dedicated to providing Hedge Funds to institutional and private clients throughout the world. Co-sponsors of the conference are American Express, Alexandra Investment Management and Bank of Bermuda Global Fund Services.