RAS Capital Management Launches a Multi-Strategy Fund-of-Funds for India

December 1st, 2006 - RAS Capital Management, LLC (RAS) announced the launch of its multi-strategy fund-of-funds on November 1, 2006. RAS is an investment firm based in New York and Mumbai that seeks to capture investment opportunities in Indian capital markets. RAS invests with best-in-class managers across various asset classes and strategies in India. The RAS team concentrates on risk management and reduction of the volatility associated with Indian capital markets.

RAS was founded by three Wall Street professionals from complementary backgrounds with over 30 years of combined investment experience. RAS's principals possess deep experience investing in India through derivatives and alternative investments. The team has strong relationships with India-focused managers and industry leaders, as well as global service providers, and is focused solely on India.

India's economy and investment prospects have undergone fundamental positive changes since the mid-nineties. “We believe that India presents compelling opportunities in a wide variety of investment strategies and asset classes. While our view on India's growth potential is long-biased, we strongly feel that a combination of different strategies and styles in investing in India is vital to capture opportunities and mitigate risk,” explains Rohit Aggarwal, Managing Director, RAS.

The Unique RAS Value Proposition

· RAS has access to a broad range of strategies in Indian markets that provide diversification and enjoy relatively low correlation with the performance of any one market index.

- Multi-Strategy: Fundamental Long/Short Equity, PIPES, Event/Risk Arbitrage, Multi Strategy Arbitrage, Distressed Debt.

- Multi-Managers: Typically 9-12 underlying managers. The sole focus on India enables the team to identify emerging managers early in their life cycles, access the premium managers in each asset class and carefully monitor exposures and risk in the portfolio.

· The portfolio seeks to achieve emerging market returns while reducing risk and managing volatility.

· RAS will provide access to India fund managers located around the world, many whom are relatively unknown or undiscovered, including some that are closed to accepting new investments.

· The RAS team is focused solely on India, with offices in New York and Mumbai.

Investing In India
India is the second fastest growing economy in the world. Average GDP growth in the last three years has been 7.5%. Improved infrastructure could increase GDP to the 9.5-10% range over the next decade. With a market capitalization of over $700 billion, the Indian stock market is relatively large. There are over 6,000 publicly listed companies in 23 exchanges. The two major exchanges are the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the National Stock Exchange (NSE). Over the last three years, the BSE and NSE have quadrupled in value, marking a period of unprecedented growth.

RAS believes in a multi-manager, multi-strategy approach to investing in India for several reasons. “India's growth story is broad-based and diverse – no single manager can capture the entire opportunity. The wide range of asset classes and strategies combined with the market volatility mandates a diversified approach to maximize risk adjusted returns,” explains Rob Rahbari, Managing Director, RAS. Although India's markets are well-developed, local knowledge is important, and RAS's sole focus on India enables them to locate, evaluate and access the top investment opportunities as well as identify relatively unknown investment opportunities. The team is also focused on capturing value from inefficiencies in Indian markets and events resulting from market cycles and liquidity ebbs and flows.

To conclude, the RAS team believes that its experience and focus will provide it with key competitive advantages in accessing and executing attractive investment opportunities in India in the years to come.

About RAS Capital Management LLC
RAS Capital Management, LLC is a leading independent investment management firm specializing solely in the Indian financial markets. RAS provides investors access to the entire growth story of India through a multi-manager, multi-strategy investment approach. The management team possesses the diverse skill sets required to achieve a strong discipline in due diligence, portfolio construction and risk management. With operations in both New York and Mumbai, RAS is well-equipped to recognize untapped market niches, discover new, emerging hedge fund managers and provide access to premium investment opportunities in India.

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