Høien takes over SKAGEN Avkastning


Torgeir Høien will with immediate effect take over the management of the bond   
fund SKAGEN Avkastning. SKAGEN AS will by this contribute to rebuilding the     
trust in the fund                                                               

The fund has mainly been invested in Norwegian interest rate papers with low    
duration. A smaller portion of the fund has been invested in foreign bonds. With
the intention of spreading risk for the international holdings, the fund has    
been invested in government bonds from Brazil, Mexico, Hungary and Turkey. Under
the current market conditions the foreign holdings have performed poorly. As of 
late there has been a general flight to safety, to investments that are assumed 
to be secure, including US dollar, in addition to US and European government    
bonds. This development has resulted in weak performance for the currencies and 
bonds in the countries were SKAGEN Avkastning is invested.                      

Ross Porter has for several year managed the fund well, but the management      
company has as a result of investment decisions and the extreme market situation
decided that Torgeir Høien now is the right person to manage the fund right and 
re-build the trust, says Kristian Falnes, SKAGEN's investment director.         

Torgeir Høien has the qualities and experience SKAGEN sees as necessary to      
provide the unit holders with the best possible risk adjusted return. Høien has 
more than 12 years experience in finance. He managed both SKAGEN Høyrente and   
Høyrente Institution from 2005, when he joined SKAGEN, before he in December    
2006 started managing SKAGEN Tellus. Høien will from the present moment be the  
portfolio manager for both funds.                                               

SKAGEN Avkastning started on 16. September 1994 and has been managed by Ross    
Porter since September 2000. The change comes in agreement with Porter, who will
become an analyst in the portfolio department.
GlobeNewswire