The Act II Specialist Equities Fund launched today with $50m of assets, becoming LAUP’s 4^th fund. Its manager, New York based Act II Capital, has been running the same long/short strategy since 2002, specializing in media, leisure, Internet & consumer, technology, business services, and telecommunications sectors in primarily US companies. The fund’s investment universe consists of growth areas in the economy (Internet, Smart Phones, Tablet Computers, Video Games, etc.) that are in the midst of a vast, multi-year secular transformation, which will result in many winners and losers.

The Quant Global Equities UCITS fund launched this month, becoming the third fund of LFG's Liquid Alpha UCITS platform. The fund will invest in large-cap global equities, selected from a quantitive "Top Right" selection process, and will use global equity index futures to reduce equity market exposure. The fund's investment advisor, Capital FM, has a 7 year track record in managing such strategies, and its flagship fund was awarded “Best International Fund” by AsiaHedge in 2007.

The pension fund of a further DAX 30 company has mandated LFG to arrange a single investment solution tracking a pool of hedge funds. Gareth James, Head of Hedge Fund Structuring commented: “Credit-risk-neutral solutions offered in a cost efficient form are clearly appealing to pension fund managers”.

Swedbank and Luxembourg Financial Group (LFG) raised SEK 320 mio in the SPAX Europe Trygghet bonds, which bring a double innovation: the launch of the secured issuer concept in Sweden and passporting from Luxembourg with listing on OMX-Nasdaq.

“Structured notes, such as capital protected notes, are very popular in Sweden, but during the financial crisis our clients became concerned that their credit risk concentration on a handful of issuers, which were all financial institutions, was too high” says Ove Andersson, Head of Structured Products at Swedbank. “With Swedish client interest for structured notes remaining very strong, we decided we had to solve this credit risk concentration problem to provide a better service to our clients”.

The issuer of the structured notes is Taurus, which is a Luxembourg-based issuer. Unlike normal issuers whose issuance just represent obligations to pay in the future, Taurus opens a segregated compartment for each issuance and holds a bond against its future payment obligation under the note. As a result the investor in a structured note does not take any credit exposure to the issuer, Taurus, but instead to the underlying bond which Taurus holds in the compartment of that issuance. The underlying bond can be AAA government paper, covered bonds, bonds issued by industrial companies, etc, thereby allowing the investor to reduce his credit exposure to the banking sector. Taurus, the issuer, is fully regulated and is allowed to make public offerings with listing on official stock exchanges across the EU.

Johan Groothaert, CEO of LFG adds: “The secured issuer concept is a major innovation which allows client advisors to diversify and improve the credit exposure of their clients’ structured products investments. Obviously EMTN issuers have been trying to tap into the need for more credit diversification in the structured products market, but with the main limitation that such EMTNs are usually not suited for public distribution or listing combined with market making on an official stock exchange. Furthermore, only a select number of credits are available on EMTN programmes whereas the secured issuer concept allows us unlimited choice. For instance we can now issue a capital guaranteed note on the Eurostoxx with the capital guarantee being secured by a German government bond. In addition, as we are talking one single issuer, Taurus, which can tap into many credits, the operational burden for private banks is much lower than for EMTNs as we are dealing with one single programme and one single operational infrastructure. And finally, the cost is lower than for EMTNs where issuers tend to charge a fairly hefty premium for structured notes.”

About Luxembourg Financial Group

Luxembourg Financial Group is a structured products boutique and specialist asset manager with offices in Luxembourg, London, Bahrain and Stamford CT. With a strong client franchise and anchor shareholders, it continues to expand its assets under management rapidly, having increased its assets-under-management by $4 bio since the outbreak of the financial crisis. Luxembourg Financial Group is not involved in any proprietary trading, credit provision or risk underwriting, thereby minimizing conflicts of interest, particularly with regards to its fiduciary functions. www.lfg.lu

About Swedbank

Swedbank promotes a sound and sustainable financial situation for the many people, households and companies. Our vision is to contribute to a development "Beyond Financial Growth". As a leading bank in the home markets Sweden, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, Swedbank offers a wide range of financial services and products. Swedbank has 9.5 million retail customers and about 670,000 corporate customers with more than 350 branches in Sweden and over 200 branches in the Baltic countries. The group is also present in other Nordic countries, the U.S., China, Russia and Ukraine. As of September 30 2010 the group had total assets of SEK 1,846 billion. Read more at www.swedbank.com

LFG's Liquid Alpha UCITS Platform (LAUP) started today with the launch of the Sabre All Weather Fund (which launched with $25m in assets). Its investment manager, London based Sabre Fund Management Limited, was founded in 1982 and has been specialised in quantitive equity selection since 1997. A multi-award winner, this is Sabre's first daily liquidity UCITS fund. It will follow a market neutral investment strategy, using its quantitive models to manage a diverse portfolio selected globally from the worlds largest and most liquid stock markets.

The CastleRock U.S. Liquid Equities Fund became LAUPs second fund with its $27m launch today. Its investment manager, New York based CastleRock Asset Management, Inc, has been running specialist U.S. long short funds since 1993, and this is their first UCITS fund. The fund will invest in mid-cap and large cap U.S. equities, selected with mid to long term investment horizons.

Take the opportunity at our first road show in January 2011 to listen to and meet our fund managers in different European cities. As an independent platform provider, Luxembourg Financial Group has carefully selected fund mangers with different investment styles that truly differentiate from their peers.

Register today for the road show:

January 24 in Brussels
January 25 in Frankfurt
January 26 in Munich
January 27 in Vienna
January 28 in Milan

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LFG consolidates its status as the leading independent UCITS platform. Since launching LAUP at the beginning of 2010, 10 fund managers have elected to use LFG as their wrapper to tap the ever growing UCITS market for alternative funds. Gareth James, head of hedge fund solutions at LFG, comments “LFG’s model is proving extremely popular. On the wrapping side, we offer the flexibility and future proofing of giving managers their own fund umbrella, but with all the expertise of a platform provider in the design, structuring and on-going support. On the distribution side, as we continue to expand its sales coverage, we are able to offer a comprehensive coverage model to perfectly complement the distribution a manager itself can bring to the table.”

The Quant Global Equities UCITS fund, an innovative fund of the Quant AM SICAV, is to be launched in January 2011, that will precisely follow the investment strategy of the BVI based QAM Global Equities Fund. The QAM Global Equities Fund was incepted in April 2004, has annualised returns of 18.5%, and was awarded “Best International Fund” by AsiaHedge in 2007.

After a successful fifteen year career in structured finance with WestLB and Abbey National plc, Andrew Pryde has joined LFG to cover UK structured finance, with special focus on asset leasing and financing. Johan Groothaert, CEO, comments: “After successfully establishing LFG as a credible partner for structured solutions in Germany with corporates, both SMEs and DAX-30 companies, pension funds and family offices, LFG is now establishing a foothold into the UK market with Andrew Pryde and James Boyd leading this effort”

Stuart Downie, LFG’s Head Intermodal Assets, was a guest on Dubai Eye’s Business Breakfast Radio Show commenting on the global trends in the freight container trade http://dubaieye1038.com/7123/containers/.

Since its launch in 2007 LFG has developed a unique structured product and asset management platform serving European investors ranging from blue chip institutional clients to retail investors. With over $4 bio of funds under management and structured notes issued, LFG is leading the trend towards a fiduciary approach in structured products. Johan Groothaert, CEO, comments: “Together with our clients in the Middle East we wish to develop a local competence centre which stands on the investors’ side and delivers them the performance they expect. We are pleased that our approach is welcomed by many parties in the Middle East and we hope to develop close partnerships with them.”

With two successful container funds already under management LFG is now launching its third specialized investment fund, focusing solely on asset based investing in the global freight container leasing business. Growth rates of more then 6% in world trade meet a shortage of freight container boxes due to absence of available funding. Stuart Downie, Head of Intermodal Assets: ”With shipping lines lacking capital to invest in containers and trade volumes bouncing back strongly there is a real window of opportunity to invest in assets that are key to the global supply chain and that are essentially free of any risk of technological obsolescence.” Nummus III aims to capture today’s opportunities, with emphasis on capital preservation.

Five additional managers have decided to join the Luxembourg Alternatives UCITS Platform over the last month. Gareth James, Head of Hedge Fund Solutions at LFG comments: “LFG’s unique proposition is increasingly being seen as the highest quality solution and the most robust set-up by hedge fund managers and investors alike. It is gradually being recognised that for more liquid strategies, UCITS is moving from the sideshow to the main event in a manager’s offering, and finding the right long term solutions is more important than ever. LAUP is on track for having ten top managers on board by year-end, giving us a world class offering of products for our clients.”

After a successful 10-year career in structured finance with WestLB, ANZ Bank and KPMG, James Boyd is joining LFG to cover the UK structured finance market, with a special focus on leasing activities. Johan Groothaert, CEO, comments: “LFG is perfectly positioned to assist its clients with tailored structured finance solutions, which is once again confirmed by this new addition to the team, which can operate with all the advantages of being inside an independent boutique: unencumbered discretion and no conflict of interest with running proprietary positions or with M&A activity.”

The pension fund of a DAX-30 company in Germany returned to LFG for a second investment in a leading Fund of Hedge Funds, wrapped by LFG in a format suitable for the pension fund. Gerald Pittner, partner at LFG commented: “LFG’s fiduciary independence and its credit-risk-neutral solutions are clearly gaining momentum with large pension funds in Europe.”

Sabre Fund Management has chosen LFG to create its first UCITS III hedge fund. The fund, set up as a daily liquidity Luxembourg SICAV, will follow Sabre’s award winning quantitative equity market neutral fund, the Sable Style Arbitrage Fund, which has just won the HFM Week Award for best Market Neutral and Relative Value Fund, and has delivered 8.2% annualized returns since launch in 2002.

Christina Maegerlein has joined LFG from Nomura as Managing Director to head up LFG's German marketing activities. Christina has more than 15 years of experience in the structured products business. LFG has acquired a number of important German clients over the last three years and with client activity recovering it aims to strengthen its presence and marketing effort in German speaking Europe.

Following the launch of LAUP (Luxembourg Alternatives UCITS Platform), LFG's commitment to the hedge fund business is further strengthened by Gareth James joining as Head of Hedge Fund Solutions. Gareth was Global Head of Hedge Fund Derivatives at Deutsche Bank, in which capacity he also ran Deutsche's hedge fund managed account platform, and has over 15 years of hedge fund industry experience. Gareth James confirms that "this is a very exciting time in the hedge funds business, with a lot of structural change taking place. LFG's set-up allows us to assist managers during this period of change". Johan Groothaert, CEO of LFG adds: "With Gareth joining, LFG cements its role as a leading European hedge fund solutions provider. Gareth's experience in the hedge fund structured products business is unique and we are already building on this."

In response to the continued growth in market demand for UCITS III hedge funds, LFG starts the first independent and open-architecture hedge funds UCITS platform. Hedge Funds established as UCITS III offer protection for investors through a regulated framework which ensures the safe-keeping of assets, risk control, transparency, diversification and liquidity not typically associated with alternative investments vehicles. More than half of European hedge fund companies either plan to launch regulated, onshore versions of their strategies or have already done so, according to HedgeFund Intelligence, a research group. The adoption of UCITS III funds represents the hedge fund industry's pre-emption of the European Union's Directive on Alternative Investment Fund Managers. LFG cooperates with Ganymede Partners, a specialist hedge fund advisor, in the roll-out of LAUP.

Swedbank and LFG cooperate in launching an innovative fund concept which buffers investment risk whilst maintaining full flexibility to shift between asset classes and markets. In this respect, the Cross Markets Fund overcomes the limitation of traditional capital guaranteed products which typically have a fixed exposure to a market or asset class which cannot be changed during the life of the fund. Particularly in the current environment such flexibility can be critical. This flexibility also allows the fund to stay evergreen, by continuously adapting its safety buffer and exposure to changing market circumstances, and hence to be open-ended without fixed maturity. This feature makes the fund attractive for saving plans with regular contributions. The fund is regulated by the CSSF as UCITS-III fund and has been passported into Sweden. For more information on the fund: http://www.swedbank.se/crossmarkets

With LFG Nummus FCP-FIS Container II Fund, LFG aims to take advantage of its proven track record in containers and the unique acquisition opportunities the container market currently offers. The fund pursues a conservative and diversified investment strategy while avoiding leverage. Alexandre Dumont comments: "The fund is backed by real assets, which provides the type of security investors are looking for in the current environment. The investment strategy's prime focus is to deliver predictable returns by ensuring that 75% of all projected cash flows are contractually fixed. As such the fund represents an attractive alternative to fixed income investments." A number of banks have already indicated they will distribute the product and subscriptions are possible monthly until closing, which is expected later this year. Prospectus, brochure and other supporting materials are available from Luxembourg Financial Group Asset Management S.A..

A one-year process which started with an extensive due diligence of several asset management systems has now been completed with the activation of the Sungard Front Arena platform. LFG's IT system had to be extended to include production, redundancy, development and test environments for the new platform. Front Arena is used for trading, position keeping, operations and risk management of LFG's funds, investment companies and securitization vehicles and allows the trading and risk management of plain vanilla and various exotic pay-offs from all asset classes. Oliver Haenseler, Head of IT at LFG comments: "The goal of complete straight-through processing between market, fund manager, administrator and custodian has come a step closer which is important in a market segment where manual intervention remains excessive. Our clean slate start allows us to set new standards."

With Christian Klar joining LFG's senior structuring team from Barclays Capital as managing director, LFG substantially upgrades its corporate structuring capabilities. Previous to his cross-border structuring role at Barclays Capital, Christian was Head of Structured Products at WestLB International S.A. Gerald Pittner, Head of Structuring at LFG adds: "Christian joining allows us to offer our clients a wider range of cross-border solutions and hence to deepen our client relationships".

LFG took a further step in its container asset management business by putting its US team members under one roof in Stamford, Connecticut, US. LFG Ltd in Stamford is focused on all management aspects with regards to the "physical container asset" and on strengthening LFG's relationships with the logistics and maritime businesses based in the US. Stuart Downie will be leading LFG's Stamford office. Stuart has a career spanning 30 years in the container business, initially at ITEL Container Corporation, from 1991 in several senior positions at Transamerica Leasing Inc. and since 2005 as Managing Director of Omnibox Container Management Services and as consultant at Drewry Shipping Consultants Ltd..

With an initial investment volume of over $350 mio, Aurum USD Liquidity Fund makes its debut as a preferential USD cash fund for investors looking for safety and liquidity. Wim Scherpereel, who is in charge of LFG's UCIT III Aurum platform commented: "Aurum USD Liquidity Fund provides investors with a well diversified and cost efficient alternative to traditional deposits, savings accounts and treasuries".

On the 20th of January 2009, Aurio Global Container Fund, a Luxembourg-regulated fund managed by LFG, acquired a portfolio consisting mainly of refrigerated containers, comprising approximately 65,500 containers or 110.000 TEU. Seacastle, one of the largest operating lessors of intermodal equipment globally and in particular of refrigerated containers, continues to act as manager. Maritime containers are the ideal asset to produce predictable and reliable cash flows, also in today's challenging times. We expect refrigerated containers to outperform other container types.", states Alexander Szewald, Head of Origination and Partner of LFG.

Deutsche Bank and Luxembourg Financial Group A.G. announced today the launch of "Al Mi'yar", a first of its kind platform aimed at facilitating the isuance of Shari'a compliant securities.

"Al Mi'yar", from the Arabic "The Standard", is a Luxembourg domiciled platform, developed by Deutsche Bank, with Luxembourg Financial Group A.G. as the Shari'a investment manager and Deutsche Banks Trust & Securities Services group providing the settlement framework.

Geert Bossuyt, Deutsche Bank's Head of Structuring for the Middle East and North Africa, said "Deutsche Bank is extremely pleased to be again at the forefront of innovation in Islamic finance, as demonstrated by our ability to adapt all types of investment products and strategies to the Shari'a compliant world. Al Mi'yar will in my opinion revolutionize the issuance of securities in an Islamic manner. The platform meets all of the latest standards issued by the Accounting and Auditing Organization of Islamic Finance Institutions (AAOIFI) and hence should be globally acceptable."

Al Mi'yar will enable Islamic investors to meet their specific investment objectives by giving them exposure to different asset classes without compromising their Islamic beliefs. By comparison to other Islamic platforms, Al-Mi'yar maximizes efficiency and protection of investors' interests, while generating liquidity and returns.

Johan Groothaert, CEO of Luxembourg Financial Group A.G. said "Al Mi'yar shows the way forward for securitized products issuance with its standardization, fiduciary control and open architecture for deal originators. Al Mi'yar sets a new standard as it delivers better protection of clients' interests by moving the issuance of securities into a fiduciary framework. Until now, issuance platforms have always been closely controlled by the deal originating banks. Al Mi'yar revolutionizes the approach to securities issuance as it puts a fiduciary instead of a bank in control."

The certificates issued on the platform will be tradable Islamic securities, as they represent ownership in tangible Islamic assets. Those assets will be managed by Luxembourg Financial Group A.G., the independent Islamic investment manager which generates returns (payable to the security holders) by selling those assets for a benchmarked sales price to an unrelated party. The benchmark method facilitates exposure to a wide variety of asset classes or indices.

In addition, the platform allows for the issuance of tradable Islamic money market products settling with short settlement cycles (T+0) enabling the issuance of overnight products or other short dated money market instruments and hence enhancing the liquidity of the Islamic money markets.

The private placement of an equity preferred instrument for agri.capital, the leading German biogas operator, has been successfully completed on 20 November. Martin Loeffler, Chief Financial Officer of agri.capital commented: "Thanks to the creative structuring solution provided by LFG, agri.capital has been provided with a smart preferred equity structure which bridged the needs of investors and the company". Together with a second capital raising round for an equity preferred based on the same structured solution, agri.capital is on target to raise over EUR 100 mio in equity by year-end. Johan Groothaert, CEO of LFG, adds: "The German renewable energy act sets a global benchmark on how to foster the development of this industry. The German biogas industry has developed into a global leader; and new technologies, such as cellulosic, which will allow agricultural waste to be turned into biogas, introduce a completely new dimension. Studies show that with these new technologies Europe's total natural gas need can be covered with biogas within two decennia, and this is why we are very bullish on biogas."

LFG has been mandated as management company by AlphaOne SICAV-FIS, a special investment fund under Luxembourg law, targeting alpha return opportunities globally and across asset classes in a dynamic fashion, using a combination of proprietary risk allocation systems and the latest trading technologies. ATP Fondsmaeglerselskab A/S is acting as investment adviser to the fund that was initiated with 2.7 bln DKK of funds and should grow considerably over the next two years. Citigroup was retained as administrator, local custodian in Luxembourg and prime broker. Citigroup delivers a unique bundled offering of structuring, prime brokerage, administration and custodial services, all being channeled through its prime finance division. "The portfolio is on its way to grow and will certainly become a significant source of uncorrelated returns', says Fredrik Martinsson, Chief Investment Officer of ATP Alpha. "The set up of this truly innovative structure by ATP to tap diverse alpha sources in a transparent and controlled manner challenged all parties involved and will prove to be a significant milestone in modern pension fund management" says Gerald Pittner, Partner of LFG.

With its PATS^SM programme, Luxembourg Financial Group A.G. offers high net worth individuals, family offices and fund managers the opportunity to participate in physical asset trading strategies that until recently remained largely the exclusive territory of banks' proprietary trading desks and some specialist trading firms.

Physical assets are very diverse in nature and include commodities, goods, machinery, etc. Trading of physical assets delivers returns that are largely uncorrelated with other financial asset classes; this is why it offers an attractive diversification tool.

Wim Scherpereel, Managing Director, leading the PATS^SM initiative, comments: "PATS^SM represents a major innovation as no other banks or brokers currently offer such a wide array of physical asset trading opportunities."

LFG has been mandated by Universal-Investment-Gesellschaft mbH, Frankfurt, with the portfolio management of a German specialist fund with an investment volume of approximately euro 2bn. The Fund will focus on investments in European and US equities, managing market risk by applying appropriate hedging strategies.

"The mandate underlines the market's positive perception of LFG as a competent partner for tailored fund management solutions" says Gerald Pittner, Partner.

LFG is pleased to announce that Wim Scherpereel has joined LFG as managing director and member of the senior structuring team. Wim Scherpereel brings with him over ten years of extensive structuring experience which he developed at Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Merrill Lynch. In particular, Wim Scherpereel has been leading the development and implementation of numerous innovative investment structures in Luxembourg for both Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank and has been one of the drivers behind the trend towards quantitative investment strategies in Europe with extensive quantitative index development at Merrill Lynch and Deutsche Bank.

Addressing increased demand for private equity real estate products, LFG AG arranged the repackaging of a Latin American real estate fund managed by LFG Asset Management, into certificates issued LFG Capital, the LFG issuance vehicle which has been established under the Luxembourg Securitiation Act of 2004.

"The Luxembourg securitization framework allows us to create customized and optimized access to illiquid asset classes, satisfying very specific client needs", said Alexander Szewald, Head of Origination. "With its unique combination of structuring and asset management expertise LFG is perfectly positioned to deliver added value to its clients in an efficient and timely manner" adds Johan Groothaert, Chief Executive Officer.

Oliver Hänseler joins LFG as head of IT Implementation. Oliver brings 10 years of experience in developing high performing front office trading applications, most recently with Sal Oppenheim in Frankfurt. LFG's trading platform will be able to leverage on Oliver's specific know-how. "We are very proud to have his expertise within LFG", commented Craig Zecca, COO. Oliver will play a vital role in further developing and expanding our risk management applications.

LFG launches Aurio SICAV-FIS Global Container Fund

LFG raised USD 182 mio in the first Luxembourg regulated closed end Specialized Investment Fund (SIF) investing into transport containers, with an expected asset notional of up to USD 600 mio.

Aurio SICAV-FIS Global Container Fund is the first Luxembourg regulated SICAV-FIS fund investing in the complex and illiquid asset class of transport containers. "The advanced SIF regulatory framework in Luxembourg provides an efficient environment to implement such investment structures" says Gerald Pittner, Head of Structuring. Alexander Szewald, Head of Origination comments: "The platform created puts LFG in a unique position to offer highly attractive maritime and transportation investment products to our clients."

LFG launches second Asian Real Estate Fund of Fund

Following its successful first Asian real estate fund of funds launch in 2007, which raised 225 mio EUR of equity, LFG structured and launched its second closed-end fund investing into institutional real estate funds with a pan-Asian focus. The fund, targeted to institutional investors in Europe, completed its first closing and will be open for subscriptions till 31 December 2008. "Investor demand for real estate investments in Asia remains strong as yield expectations for such assets still look very promising compared to most asset classes. The use of our Luxembourg SIF umbrella platform to launch this new investment fund allowed us to flexibly respond to investors' interest within a very short period of time" says Alexander Szewald, Head of Origination.

Luxembourg Financial Group Asset Management S.A. has been experiencing strong growth over the last year, reflecting the increased need for independent asset management capabilities in the area of structured products and complex assets.

Tanja Buchalik is joining LFG as Director responsible for fund structuring. Tanja worked for more than 10 years at JPMorgan in London where she developed a wide range of investment products and initiated the banks foray into structured retail funds in Europe.

Gerald Pittner, Head of Structuring, commented: "Tanja is bringing with her to Luxembourg vast experience in structuring complex funds and other fiduciary structures, thereby taking LFG's capability in this area to a new level".

Andrea Minetti and Giuseppe Galimberti join Luxembourg Financial Group ("LFG") as Co-heads of Southern Europe.

Andrea Minetti has been working in Investment Banking for the past 15 year. Andrea began his career as an Exotic Fixed Income and Credit Derivatives trader, then moved onto Derivatives Sales. Prior to joining Luxembourg Financial Group, Andrea was working at Deutsche Bank where he was running Equity Derivatives Sales in the Americas and prior to that in Southern Europe. Before joining Deutsche Bank, Andrea worked in New York for Merrill Lynch and UBS. Andrea earned a BA in Economics from University of Genoa (Italy) and a MBA from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA in Los Angeles.

Giuseppe Galimberti has been working in finance for more than 17 years. Prior to joining Luxembourg Financial Group, Giuseppe was working as Deputy General Manager at Banca IMI Spa with global responsibility on Capital Markets. Before that Giuseppe worked as Head of Southern Europe Distribution at UBS Limited and as Head of Italian Sales at Deutsche Bank AG where he joined in 1997 in the Milan office. Giuseppe had experiences as trader, running Italian Govies Bonds Market Making in JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Giuseppe earned a degree in Engineering from Politecnico di Milano.

Johan Groothaert who has been acting as Chairman of the Board of Luxembourg Financial Group A.G. and Luxembourg Financial Group Holding S.A. for the last year, has now left his employment with Deutsche Bank A.G. to become employed on a full-time basis as Chief Executive Officer of Luxembourg Financial Group A.G..

Johan Groothaert has been working in the area of equity derivatives for about 15 years. Prior to joining Luxembourg Financial Group, Johan has held different management positions at Deutsche Bank including heading the global retail product activity of the Global Markets division and the equity structured products activity of the Global Equities division. Before joining Deutsche Bank in 1999, Johan worked at Merrill Lynch International where he was responsible for securitised products in Europe. Johan earned a degree in Engineering from the Catholic University of Leuven and an MBA from the University of Chicago.

Deutsche Bank AG, M.M.Warburg & CO KGaA and Feedback AG became shareholders of Luxembourg Financial Group Holding S.A. ("LFG"), thereby increasing its equity capital (tier 1) by EUR 10,491,108. On a consolidated basis, the equity capital (tier 1) of LFG exceeds EUR 14 million after the second capitalisation round and the contribution of the 2007 net profits to the retained earnings reserve. Each new shareholder acquires 5% of the share capital of LFG, thereby strengthening the foundations of LFG whilst at the same time maintaining the independence of LFG.