Punakaiki Fund extends offer period and lowers fees

Media Release

Punakaiki Fund extends offer period and lowers fees

Offer extended to 25 October, Director and Management fees lowered.

Auckland, 2 October 2013 – Punakaiki Fund today registered an Instrument to Amend the combined investment statement and prospectus (the “Offer Document”).

The changes to the Offer Document extend the offer period, which will now close on 25 October, and lower the minimum management fee and the fees payable to the independent directors.  The changes are intended to make the cost structure more favourable to investors where the total subscriptions are not far in excess of the minimum amount to be raised of $5 million.

The initial aggregated director fees have been reduced by 62.5% from $40,000 in cash and the issue of 80,000 shares (at $1 per share) to $15,000 and 30,000 shares respectively.

The minimum annual Management Fee has been halved, to $150,000.

“It’s important that we have a sustainable fund, even this small, to be able to invest in some of the many opportunities that we are seeing in the market”, said director Lance Wiggs. We are still unsure just how close to the $5 million minimum we will get to by the end of today, but we have made the decision to extend and to reduce the fees.”

Wiggs says the extended time will not be wasted. “I’ll be on the phone and on the road, meeting and talking to a long-list of potential investee companies. This is something we were aiming to do at this stage anyway, and our key problem will be to create a short-list of targets. Overall we continue to see that the demand for funding from quality early stage companies is very strong, and we will have some tough choices to make.”

“It was a lot harder to raise the fund that we anticipated, and our timing versus the Meridian offer was unfortunate, with brokers essentially dedicated to that process for a substantial period, especially over the critical last two weeks. We heard on our road trip around New Zealand that some investors wanted to see lower fees in the case of a smaller raise, and have provided that with these amendments."

Wiggs is grateful for the support from investors so far, and notes that it is particularly pleasing to see a large number of members of the early stage community contributing alongside other members of the public.

The amended Offer Document can be downloaded at www.punakaikifund.co.nz. Investors can subscribe online, through their broker or by mail.

ENDS

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