Two of Martin Currie's Absolute Return Funds - Japan and Asia - will be closing
to new investors after the next dealing date, 1 March 2004.

The Japan fund, which is managed by Michael Thomas, John Paul Temperley
and Keith Donaldson, is up 39% since launch on 30 June 2000. The fund has
grown from USD 3 million at launch to its current size of USD 252 million.
Martin Currie also manages other assets for this mandate bringing the total
amount under management to over USD 400m.

The Asia fund, which is managed by Jason McCay, is up 37% since launch on
18 July 2002. It has grown from USD 13.5 million at launch to its current size of
USD 113 million. Martin Currie also manages other assets for this mandate,
bringing the total amount under management to almost USD 130 million

The soft closure of these two funds does not affect subscriptions into other sub-
funds in the Martin Currie Absolute Return Funds range.