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Sirius formed a strategic alliance with Orange Capital

Sirius is very pleased to announce that we have formed a strategic alliance with Orange Capital.  Orange Capital is a Durban based Asset Manager with whom Sirius has a long standing association.

After several meetings between the management of Orange Capital and Sirius an agreement was reached whereby all the resources and intellectual property of both firms will be available to clients, financial advisors and other service providers currently serviced by the two companies.

With skilled staff proving more difficult to recruit, train and retrain, it made sense for Sirius and Orange to leverage off infrastructures currently existing in both companies to maximise efficiency.  The proof of this point above is borne out by the fact that Shawn Weggelaar has accepted an offer of employment from an international IT company, for whom he worked previously, and is lost to the Sirius team. The offer was such that neither Sirius nor Orange could match and made sense for Shawn to accept. The offer presents him the opportunity for international relocation with very exciting business opportunities. If one looks at the positive side, this exercise proves that we have a staff of international calibre that are highly sought after. Sirius wishes Shawn all the best for the future and will always regard him as one of the Sirius family.

The Sirius / Orange alliance gives both companies depth of managerial experience and expertise that would be difficult for either company to build in isolation. Alastair Nairn and Jacques Du Plessis of Orange Capital have been appointed as Non-Executive Directors of Sirius. This will allow Sirius the benefit of their input and guidance at a strategic level.

The specific names and details of key role players out of the Orange Capital fold are:

Alastair Nairn Director

Having completed his education at Michaelhouse in South Africa, Alastair went on to study Theology and Finance, and he holds an Advanced Diploma in Financial Planning.  He is a Certified Financial Planner and is a member of the Financial Planning Institute of South Africa.

Over the past 11 years Alastair worked for some of South Africa's leading financial institutions, namely: Old Mutual, Nedbank, the Marriott Group as Marketing Manager of International Services and Managing Director of Aurica Offshore Services.  In addition Alastair has also successfully managed businesses in the International Financial Services arena, including international tax planning, international trust and company services and international portfolio management.

He is currently a Director of a number of privately owned South African companies and is a Director of Orange Capital Holdings (Pty) Ltd and Orange Capital (Pty) Ltd.

Jacques du Plessis   B.COMPT CAIA Chief Investment Officer

Jacques is a director of Orange Capital (Pty) Ltd and Orange Investment Solutions (Pty) Ltd. Jacques previously worked for a South African asset management company as a South African Stock Market analyst, and thereafter as an International Market analyst providing economic, stock market and investment research.  He also gained valuable experience working with an International Management Consulting Company in London.

Jacques obtained a BCompt from the University of South Africa.  He subsequently qualified with a Programme in Investment Analysis and Portfolio Management, Registered Persons, Certificate in International Capital Markets and a Certificate in Tax Planning for Investments.  He has completed the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst course which is the hedge fund industry's leading qualification.

Nicky Oates   BCOM HONS ECONOMIST/Research Analyst

Nicky graduated from the University of South Africa with Honours in Bachelor of Commerce: majoring in Economics and Risk Management, and from the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association.

Since 2003, Nicky has held the position of Research Analyst and is responsible for all research, due diligence and the administrative processes within the research department.

Having received his BCOM degree at the University of Cape Town, Simon went on to qualify as a Chartered Accountant, simultaneously working as an Audit Senior at KPMG.

He has a wealth of experience  working in both local and international companies, namely Standard Corporate & Merchant Bank as a Manager in the Leveraged Investment Division; Goldman Sachs International as the Executive Director in the Investment Management Division and the RF Group as the Chief Operating Officer. 

Recently Simon was operating as a Private Investor whereby he completed the R50 million leveraged buyout of Dynamic Fibre Moulding (Pty) Ltd; established Xenon Investment Managers, a BVI fund management company offering global funds managed by Goldman Sachs and established Savuti Capital, the manager of the Maverick Fund, a South African hedge fund.

A strong team indeed!

Going forward some exciting new products are already under development and we are convinced we will continue to offer and exceed expectations in terms of investment returns and service. Currently under development; A local unit trust using the "asset allocation, multi-manager" philosophy of Sirius A local "asset swap" global unit trust, a feeder fund into the very successful Mirzam USA mutual fund. This fund sits in the top 1% of its category in a very competitive environment. (Go to www.mirzamfunds.com) A structure for South Africans to gain access to the Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) market in the USA. ETF's are the investment of the future and are an extremely efficient investment tool.

Beyond the strategic alliance nothing will change in terms of branding, location, investments and relationships currently in place at either Sirius or Orange.

The existing Sirius team, already well known to you, is available for any further questions you may have.

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