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Tiberius launches subsidiary focusing on commodity equities

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Zug-based Tiberius Asset Management Ltd has set up a commodity equities subsidiary, and plans to launch a commodity exploration fund this autumn.


Zug-based Tiberius Asset Management Ltd has set up a commodity equities subsidiary, and plans to launch a commodity exploration fund this autumn.

Christoph Eibl, one of the two partners at Tiberius Asset Management AG, said: ‘We will enlarge our expertise in the commodity sector and offer our investors the total range of investment opportunities in this growth area.’

The foundation of Tiberius Exploration AG in Zug, with offices in Johannesburg South Africa, will allow the current focus on active commodity management to be expanded to the evaluation of commodity producers.

Eibl said: ‘Until now we have concentrated on active management of commodity futures and the respective collateralized bond portfolio. Commodity equities will now also be represented at Tiberius by a proven and well rated expert team.’

The initial focus will be on the analysis of early stage commodity exploration companies. ‘In this early stage these attractive investments are often too small for the big funds and have not been discovered by the capital market. However, to recognise superior, but under-valued investment opportunities, we need excellent geological and techno-economic knowledge’, said Markus Mezger, partner responsible for the investment strategies at Tiberius.

Eibl and Mezger have recruited a highly qualified team led by Dr. Joachim Berlenbach (45 PhD Geology), twice rated as top Gold analyst. In his previous role Dr. Berlenbach was the founding partner and fund manager at Craton Capital specialising in gold and commodity equities. For many years Dr. Berlenbach worked with Standard Bank, South Africa, ING Barings and Salomon Smith Barney (Citibank) as an analyst. He has always focused on young and promising commodity and mining companies.

Working with Berlenbach in South Africa will be a group of three geologists. The team represents an experienced group of commodity analysts.

Clyde Mallinson (52) has developed models for analysing mining and exploration projects and has gained long term experience working as a consultant for well known companies such as Anglo American, Gold Fields, De Beers, BHP Billion, Placer Dome and many others. He specialises in pre-feasibility risk analysis, as well as in ore resource and reserve estimation.

Jordaan Fouche (46), has more than 20 years experience in oil exploration and production. He practised as geologist and geophysicist involved in both exploration and production geology. For a substantial part of his career he was International Portfolio Manager in the New Ventures Division of Soekor and PetroSA, the state-oil company in South Africa. He was responsible for opportunity evaluation in West Africa, North Africa, Southern Africa, the UK North Sea and Gulf of Mexico. He has acquired substantial experience in the technical, commercial and legal aspects of oil exploration and production. Jordaan also worked for Industrial Development Corporation, a development bank specializing in development finance in South Africa and Africa. During his tenure at this organization he aquired experience in both debt and equity finance.

Dr Roger Scoon (49) is a leading expert in Bushveld geology, specializing in PGMs. He has worked as an independent consultant to mining and exploration companies for many years. He was Vice President Exploration of Platexco, a Toronto Stock Exchange company that was successfully sold off to Impala Platinum. He will be consulting for Tiberius, focussing on PGMs’ and solid bottom-up geological modeling and understanding. ‘Tiberius is proud that such acknowledged experts with careers in the commodity field have decided to work with us. This will strengthen our company further and will be well appreciated by our investors,’ says Christoph Eibl

Tiberius Exploration AG will be concentrating on finding and evaluating smaller and attractive exploration companies with promising growth perspectives. A fund with this investment approach will be launched in autumn this year.

Tiberius expects the upward trend in commodities to continue for several years. The company specialises in commodities and bond fund management and generating alpha through active management.

Background note: Tiberius Asset Management Ltd is based in Zug, Switzerland with representative offices in Stuttgart, Geneva and in Zurich. The company was founded in 2005 by Markus Mezger and Christoph Eibl. TAM combines many years’ experience in commodity trading and portfolio management. Both founding members are acknowledged commodities experts who can look back on successful track records with their respective former employers. Markus Mezger was previously responsible for global investment strategy in the stock and commodities division at the Baden Württembergischen Bank AG. He also managed special funds in the commodities sector. Christoph Eibl’s last position was that of Vice President of the commodities team at DresdnerKleinwortWasserstein, where he was active on a global basis in the fields of precious metal and commodities transactions. Trading in mine hedging with hedge funds and commodities investors has contributed to his solid past experience. Both are renowned authors of several trade publications and books for the commodities sector. As of mid-July 2006, Tiberius manages USD 100 million in commodities and bonds.

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