NEW YORK - (Business Wire) The Asia Tigers Fund, Inc. (NYSE: GRR; the
“Fund
”) announced today that the Fund
’s semi-annual repurchase offer will commence today and terminate on July 11, 2008. In April 2002, stockholders of the Fund voted to adopt an interval fund structure, pursuant to which the Fund conducts periodic repurchase offers for between 5% and 25% of the Fund
’s outstanding common stock. Under the Fund
’s original policy, the Fund conducted quarterly repurchase offers. In February 2007, stockholders of the Fund voted to amend the policy to provide that the Fund will conduct repurchase offers on a semi-annual, rather than on a quarterly, basis. Accordingly, the Fund
’s Board of Directors (the
“Board
”) authorized the Fund
’s repurchase offer for this semi-annual period of up to 5% of its outstanding common stock, the details of which are as follows:
Purpose of the Repurchase Offer – The repurchase offer is intended to provide Fund stockholders who wish to have their shares repurchased based on net asset value (“NAV”) with the opportunity to have at least a portion of such shares repurchased.
What to Expect – The repurchase offer began on June 20, 2008, and will end on July 11, 2008. Materials will be sent to stockholders of record as of June 13, 2008, in conjunction with the start of the repurchase offer on June 20, 2008.
Price – The repurchase price of the shares will be their NAV per share at the close of regular trading on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) on July 18, 2008. The shares tendered in the repurchase offer will be subject to a repurchase fee of 2% of NAV for expenses directly related to the repurchase offer.
Number of Shares – If more than 5% of the Fund’s outstanding common stock is tendered, the Fund will either (1) repurchase all of the additional shares tendered, if the additional shares do not exceed 2% of the Fund’s outstanding common stock, or (2) purchase 5% of the Fund’s outstanding common stock on a pro-rata basis.
Deadline – The deadline for participating in the repurchase offer is 5:00 p.m. New York City time on July 11, 2008. The NAV of the shares may fluctuate between the deadline and July 18, 2008, the pricing date of the repurchase offer. The payment date for the repurchase offer is on or before July 25, 2008.
During the repurchase offer, the NAV of the shares will be calculated as of the close of regular trading on the NYSE each Friday and each of the five business days (July 7, 2008 to July 11, 2008) preceding the repurchase request deadline on July 11, 2008.
The Fund’s common stock has at times traded at a premium to the Fund’s NAV per share. It may not be in a stockholder’s interest to tender shares in connection with this repurchase offer if the Fund’s common stock is trading at a premium. The market price of the Fund’s common stock can and does fluctuate. Accordingly, on July 18, 2008, the pricing date for this repurchase offer, the market price of the Fund’s common stock may be above or below the Fund’s NAV per share.
To obtain the weekly NAV or the NYSE closing price of the Fund’s common stock, or for questions concerning the repurchase offer or for requests for the Fund’s repurchase offer materials, stockholders should contact Georgeson Inc. (“Georgeson”), the Fund’s Information Agent, toll free at 1-877-847-1383, or, for banks or brokers, at 1-212-440-9800.
Neither the Fund, its Board nor the Investment Manager is making any recommendation to any stockholder whether to tender shares in the repurchase offer. The Fund and the Board urge stockholders to read and evaluate the repurchase offer materials carefully before deciding whether to participate in the repurchase offer. This announcement is not an offer to purchase nor a solicitation of an offer to sell shares of the Fund. The repurchase offer is being made only through the Offer to Repurchase and the related Letter of Transmittal. Holders of Fund shares should read these documents when they are available because they contain important information. These and other filed documents will be available to investors for free both at the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission and from Georgeson. The repurchase offer is not being made to, nor will tenders be accepted from or on behalf of, holders of shares in any jurisdiction in which making or accepting the repurchase offer would violate that jurisdiction’s laws.
The Fund is a non-diversified, closed-end management investment company that seeks long-term capital appreciation by investing primarily in Asian equity securities. The Fund conducts semi-annual repurchase offers and is traded on the NYSE under the trading symbol “GRR.”
Blackstone Asia Advisors L.L.C. serves as the Investment Manager to the Fund. The Investment Manager is an affiliate of The Blackstone Group L.P.
Information on the Fund can be obtained on the Blackstone website (www.blackstone.com) or by calling the Fund’s toll-free phone number at 1-866-800-8933.
This press release may contain statements regarding plans and expectations for the future that constitute forward-looking statements within the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements other than statements of historical fact are forward-looking and can be identified by the use of words such as “may,” “will,” “expect,” “anticipate,” “estimate,” “believe,” “continue” or other similar words. Such forward-looking statements are based on the Fund’s current plans and expectations, and are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning such risks and uncertainties are contained in the Fund’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
Blackstone Asia Advisors L.L.C.
1-866-800-8933
