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DrKW launches UK warrants products

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Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has launched its initial warrants product range to coincide with the new UK Covered Warrants market, which will be launched by the Lond

Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) has launched its initial warrants product range to coincide with the new UK Covered Warrants market, which will be launched by the London Stock Exchange today.


DrKW will offer 10 FTSE-100 Index Warrants – 3 ‘calls’ and 2 ‘puts’ for each of two maturities (June and December 2003). These products will be available to private investors through their stockbroker.


Klaus Zimmermann, Global Head of Wholesale Products at DrKW, who is leading the bank’s warrants effort in the UK, comments, “Our initial UK Covered Warrants range is purposely limited to offer simple yet attractive products for all types of investors. Over time, as investors become more accustomed to the market and how warrants work, we intend to broaden our offering. We will include single stock products and exotic products in the longer term, drawing on our global expertise of more mature warrants markets.”


In addition to being an issuer of warrants in the new UK market, DrKW will also act as a market maker in warrants.


Brokers will be able to trade DrKW warrants and the warrants of several other issuers (including Goldman Sachs and Societe Generale) through its bestconnect(TM) platform.


Full information on these products can be found on DrKW’s new Covered Warrants website www.warrants.dresdner.com – now live. The site also features:



  • Real-time prices for DrKW’s UK covered warrants range and other market related information;

  • A “scenario calculator” (or warrant analyser) allowing investors to become more familiar with how different scenarios may affect warrant performance (e.g if the FTSE increases or interest rates decline);

  • An interactive e-learning tool for beginners through to advanced level investors to aid understanding of how warrants work, the risks and benefits associated with these instruments, and offering knowledge tests and practice example calculations.

Background Note: Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DrKW) is the investment bank within the Corporates and Markets Division of Dresdner Bank AG, a member of the Allianz Group since July 2001.  Headquartered in London, Frankfurt and New York and with an international network of offices, DrKW provides a wide range of investment bank products and services to European and international clients through its Capital Markets and Investment Banking business lines.


Dresdner Bank is one of the leading worldwide issuers of warrants with more than 5,000 warrants and other securitised products traded internationally.  It already has an established presence and offers a wide range of products in key markets such as Germany, Italy, France, Switzerland and Japan. In Germany, for example, Dresdner Bank offers some 2,200 warrants including products based on underlying assets such as shares, bonds, interest rates, commodities, currencies and financial futures as well as basket and bespoke tailored products.


Covered warrants give the holder the right but not the obligation to buy (call) or sell (put) an underlying asset at a specified price (the strike price) during or at the end of a specified time. A warrant is a securitised obligation to be fulfilled by the issuer.

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