Macquarie Launches New Specialist Fund – MQ Comets Diversified Trading Fund

15 September 2006

MQ Specialist Investment Management today announced the launch of a new offer in the specialist fund MQ Comets Diversified Trading Fund (MQ Comets).

MQ Comets is being offered for a limited time to Australian retail investors and self managed superannuation fund investors, and is being marketed through financial intermediaries and to retail investors directly.

The investment strategy aims to deliver consistent investment returns with low correlation to conventional equity investments.

“MQ Comets is designed to insulate portfolios against inflation and equity market volatility. It is an excellent diversification tool within a well-constructed portfolio.” said Cathy Kovacs, a Division Director with in Macquarie’s Equity Markets Group.

“We’ve taken a very innovative investment strategy and made it available to Australian retail investors with added benefits”, added Ms Kovacs.

MQ Comets provides investors with leveraged exposure to the Standard and Poor’s Diversified Trends Indicator® (“S&P DTI”) an investment strategy that takes both ‘long’ and ‘short’ positions in commodity and financial futures, depending on price trends. In addition, MQ Comets enhances exposure by using internal leverage. Initially, for each $1,000 invested in Comets, investors will receive $2,000 exposure to the S&P DTI performance.

The investment strategy was developed by Victor Sperandeo, known as ‘Trader Vic’, based on his 40 years of experience on Wall Street. The idea behind the S&P DTI is that by following trends in markets rather than by predicting markets, there is an opportunity to make money most of the time. According to Trader Vic “It’s the trends that make you the money.” (Trader Vic, April 2003).

“While there is a view that commodities may help diversify investment portfolios, the reality is that commodity markets are highly volatile. The S&P DTI employs a very impressive and innovative strategy through an array of opportunities that aim to profit in both rising and falling commodity markets and in financial futures such as currencies and US Treasury instruments.”

“This is definitely not an investment strategy that could be easily replicated at a reasonable cost, by retail investors” said Ms Kovacs

MQ Comets aims to deliver capital growth and some income over a six-year investment period.  Investors receive income distributions from Comets on an annual basis. The distribution amount will depend on the performance of MQ Comets over the year.

The investment is capital protected at the capital protection date – 12 November 2012*. The existence of capital protection means that Macquarie Bank will lend approved investors 100% of the initial investment amount. The minimum investment loan amount is $50,000. Without borrowing, the minimum investment is $10,000.

Ms Kovacs concluded; “MQ Comets is unlike any other investment we have seen in the
Australian market place, and we are delighted to include it in the suite of MQ Funds available to Australian retail investors. The licensing by S&P and the involvement of Trader Vic should provide additional confidence to investors that the strategy is of the highest quality”.

MQ Comets is open for a limited time only from 15 September 2006 until 31 October 2006.

*Capital Protection is provided to the MQ Comets Diversified Trading Fund through the Equity Markets Investments Agreement and not to each individual investor. Capital Protection applies only on the Capital Protection Date (expected to be 12 November 2012) and is subject to the terms and conditions of the Product Disclosure Statement (“PDS”), and in particular will not apply in the case of an Extraordinary Event. For full details (including risks), investors should refer to relevant sections of the PDS.

This release has been prepared by MQ Portfolio Management Limited ABN 55 092 552 611 ("MPML"), the issuer and responsible entity of Series 2 Units ("Units") in the MQ Comets Diversified Trading Fund (“MQ Comets”) and does not take into account an investors' personal objectives, financial situation or needs Each investor should consider the above matters and read the Product Disclosure Statement (“PDS”), before making any investment decision. The PDS is available from MPML on 1800 812 802.

Investments in MQ Comets are not deposits with or liabilities of Macquarie Bank Limited ABN 46 008 583 542 (“Macquarie”) or any Macquarie Group company and are subject to investment risk, including possible delays in repayment and loss of income and capital invested. None of Macquarie or any other Macquarie Group company guarantees the performance of MQ Comets, the repayment of capital from MQ Comets or any particular rate of return.

Macquarie Group, its employees and officers may act in different, potentially conflicting, roles in providing the financial services referred to in this general advice. The Macquarie Group has conflict of interest policies which aim to manage conflicts of interest. Members of the Macquarie Group may receive remuneration and Macquarie will pay commission to introducing advisers as described in the PDS.

"Standard & Poor's®" and "S&P®", are trademarks of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. “DTI” is a trademark of Alpha Financial Technologies LLC. These marks have been licensed for use by MPML as responsible entity for MQ Comets. MQ Comets is not sponsored, endorsed, sold or promoted by Standard & Poor's, a division of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. ("S&P") or Alpha Financial Technologies, LLC ("AFT"). AFT and S&P make no representation regarding the advisability of investing in MQ Comets.

This information is current as at 15 September 2006 and is subject to change without notice.

For More Information please contact:

Cathy Kovacs
Division Director
Equity Markets Group
Tel: (612) 8232 8683