Sunday Independent March 1, 1998

      South African Dion Friedland's Magnum Russia Fund was the world's best-performing fund of funds last year, MAR/Hedge reports in its February issue.

      The fund, up 74,28 percent for the year, achieved the highest returns of the more than 1100 funds of funds tracked by MAR/Hedge, an industry journal.

      Magnum Russia Fund aims to take advantage of the undervaluation of assets in Russia by investing with well-known investment managers connected with Russia. These managers invest primarily in privately held companies In which recent privatisation and demand for growth capital provide opportunities to own large equity positions at discounted prices.

      Friedland believes these strategic investments will make substantial gains as the political and tax situations in Russia improve and the world investment community better recognizes the intrinsic values of these investments.

      Magnum Russia Fund was joined on the MAR/Hedge top 10 list for last year by Magnum Opportunity Fund, ranked fifth with a gain of 54,9 percent, and Magnum Russia Equity Fund, ranked eighth with a 46,93 percent return.

      Magnum Opportunity Fund invests in funds that buy undervalued assets poised to rise in value. It invests with many of the world's premier investment professionals.

      Magnum Russia Equity Fund aims to take advantage of the equity markets of the newly independent states of the former Soviet Union by investing in more liquid equity funds where the investment managers have great depth of knowledge of these equity markets.