Cayman Islands Stock Exchange Celebrates First Anniversary.

GRAND CAYMAN, Cayman Islands--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 22, 1998--The Cayman Islands Stock Exchange has celebrated its first anniversary by announcing its 100th listing - confirming its status as one of the world's fastest growing exchanges.

The Exchange now has a total of 107 listed issuers with a total market capitalization of approximately (U.S.) $10 billion.

The century mark was hit with the listing of a series of funds by Schroder Investment Management and the Exchange's chief executive officer Ann Nealon said, "It has been a very exciting year for us and I think we have surprised many people by being as successful as we have been.

"The quality of the issuers we have attracted is also impressive both for the mutual funds and the specialist debt vehicles that have listed over the past year."

Nealon, who was formerly with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, said that one of the most unexpected developments has been the significant amount of interest shown in the Exchange from Latin America, particularly Brazil. A number of funds managed in Brazil have listed and the Exchange is currently working on a new listing facility for unsponsored depository receipt programmes, which is targeted at the Latin American market.

Among the offshore fund managers attracted to the Exchange is one of the world's premier hedge fund operators, Maverick Capital, which manages over (U.S) $ 1 billion from its base in Dallas.

The Exchange has implemented a fast track listing facility for the major offshore hedge fund managers to enable them to take advantage of proposed changes to U.S. rules governing the distribution of "hot issue" securities.

An offshore listing will, in future, enable some hedge funds to participate in "hot issues", which are oversubscribed public offerings of stock, from which they had effectively been barred by National Association of Securities Dealers regulations. As a result of the rule change, the Exchange has already had a number of listing applications from leading U.S. fund operators.

It is this kind of responsiveness that has also paid dividends for the Exchange when dealing with the requirements of the international capital markets. The listing of specialist debt vehicles by such international finance houses as Duetsche Bank, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch has grown significantly over the past year.

The chairman of the Exchange, Anthony Travers said, "The major institutional arrangers are familiar with the legal structures in the Cayman Islands and the recognition of the Exchange as a more sympathetic and cost effective for listing sophisticated debt instruments is a logical development.

"There is no doubt that the expertise that we provide at the Exchange, and the speed at which it is brought to bear, will have a significant bearing on selection of the most appropriate Exchange for this type of debt listing."

The Exchange was created as a joint venture between the Cayman Islands Government and the private sector and, having established a firm base with international institutions, it is now considering launching a Developing Equities Market which will be open to local and international companies to raise capital.

    CONTACT:  Cayman Islands Stock Exchange
               Michael Shanahan, 345/945-7733
               or
               Ann Nealon, 345/945-6060