Public Mutual Sold More Than RM2.5 Billion for 3 New Funds

KUALA LUMPUR 13 August 2007 – Public Bank’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Public Mutual announced that to date, more than RM2.5 billion worth of units of its Public China Select Fund (PCSF), Public Far-East Property & Resorts Fund (PFEPRF) and Public Islamic Asia Dividend Fund (PIADF) were sold.

Chief Executive Officer Yeoh Kim Hong said the demand for PCSF has been tremendous with more than RM1 billion (or more than 4 billion units) worth of units of its PCSF sold since it was launched in June 2007. The Company has recently increased the fund size of PCSF to 6.5 billion units to cater to the high demand of this fund. She explained that PCSF is an equity fund that seeks to achieve capital growth over the medium- to long-term period by investing in a portfolio of investments in the greater China region namely in Hong Kong, China and Taiwan markets and including China based companies listed on overseas markets. The fund is suitable for investors with aggressive risk-reward temperament.

At the same time, Public Mutual’s recently launched property and resorts fund, Public Far-East Property & Resorts Fund (PFEPRF) also received good response from the investors. To date, more than RM500 million (or more than 2 billion units) worth of units were sold. Launched on 10 July 2007, PFEPRF is an equity fund that seeks to achieve capital growth over the medium- to long-term period by investing in companies that are principally engaged in property investment and development, hotel and resorts development and investment, and real estate investment trusts (REITs) in domestic and regional markets. This fund is suitable for investors with moderate risk-reward temperament.

The Company also announced that it has increased the fund size of its Public Islamic Asia Dividend Fund (PIADF), launched in April 2007, from the existing 5 billion units to 6.5 billion units. “The demand for this Shariah-based dividend fund is overwhelming. To date, more than RM1.12 billion (or more than 4.5 billion units) worth of PIADF units were sold,” Yeoh said. PIADF is a moderate-risk Islamic equity income fund that seeks to provide income by investing in a portfolio of stocks in domestic and regional markets that complies with Shariah requirements and which offer or have the potential to offer attractive dividend yields. The fund is suitable for investors with moderate risk-reward temperament who prefer to receive income while capital growth is secondary.

All these three funds are distributed by Public Mutual’s 20,000-strong unit trust consultants.

Public Mutual is the largest private unit trust company in Malaysia, and it manages 47 funds for more than 1,000,000 accountholders. As at 31 July 2007, the total NAV of the funds managed by the company was RM23 billion.