Emerging Europe Convergence
Interview with Markus Brück, manager of the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund, discussing the fund’s investment philosophy and strategies, as well as the Eastern and Central European marketplace.

- Ticker FundScreen; 123jump.com, December 2006

Talking Turkey
Interview with fund manager Markus Brück, and analyst Vladimir Milev about the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund and the potential of the Eastern European markets.

- Financial Advisor, November 2006

Eastern Europe’s Tigers
Interview with the fund manager of the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund, Markus Brück, discussing which Eastern European stocks and countries are poised to continue to outperform their peers.

- TheStreet.com TV, 11/9/06

Lipper Leaders
The Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund is listed as among the top 6 Lipper Leaders in the European Region category for the performance over the previous 52 weeks.

- Wall Street Journal, 10/30/06

Fed offers a pause that refreshes
Article about strong performance of emerging markets funds during the third quarter, including the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund, which returned 4.6% for the quarter. Financial analyst Vladimir Milev discusses which companies contributed to strong performance.

- International Herald Tribune, 10/13/06

So, why so ignored?
Eastern Bloc
Article about the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund, discussing year-to-date performance, Morningstar rating, expenses, as well as country weightings and individual stock holdings, among others.

- Wall Street Journal & Wall Street Journal Online, 10/3/06

Pacific Rim becoming the big wheel
Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund listed as 3rd best performer in the Europe category for the 3-month period ended 9/25/06, following two iShares funds.

- Investment News, 10/2/06

Shares dip, zloty stable as Polish government collapses
“In Hungary, for the economy, they have to take certain measures to address longstanding problems, namely their budget and current-account deficits," said Vladimir Milev, a financial analyst for the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund (MPYMX). If economic reform is delayed by political events, it would hurt Hungary and could further delay its switch to adopting the euro, currently planned for 2010. Poland, in contrast, "is very strong economically," said Milev. "There's some political noise, but it's not the same as Hungary. Growth is good, company earnings are solid, it's a very different picture."

- CBS MarketWatch Online, 9/22/06

Fund Profile - Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund
One-page article about the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund, discussing performance since inception and outlining the investment approach and universe.

- Moneyletter.com, 8/11/06

Blue Danube
Two-page article written about the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund in the Forbes Annual International Investment Guide issue; interview with fund managers Markus Brueck and Zoltan Koch.

- Forbes Magazine, 7/24/06

Mutual Funds Quarterly Review – Category Kings in 19 Realms
European Region Funds: Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund (MPYMX) listed as top-performing fund for one-year total return (51.05%) for the year ended 6/30/06.

- Wall Street Journal, 7/5/06

Mutual Funds Quarterly Review – One-Year Best Performers
The Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund is listed among the top 50 best performing stock funds for one year performance.

- Wall Street Journal, 7/5/06

Lipper Leaders
The Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund is listed as Lipper Leader in the European Region category for the performance over the previous 52 weeks.

- Wall Street Journal, 7/3/06

Interest-rate fears drive world-wide slide
Other managers have unloaded some of what they perceive to be their riskier stocks, then keep that money in cash. Vladimir Milev, an analyst for the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund in Los Angeles, says that about 20% of his fund is in cash, up from next to nothing in April.

- Wall Street Journal, 6/14/06

Spanning the global selloff
Vlad Milev, a fund manager with Metzler/Payden Funds in Los Angeles, who concentrates on Eastern Europe, said late last week that the selloff there has been more a case of "a number of market participants [saying], 'We don't necessarily like this volatility -- we're going to get out.'" He also pointed out that many of these markets cannot compare in terms of market capitalization to places like the U.S. -- and as a result, when fast money does leave, it has a greater impact on stock prices.

- Wall Street Journal Online, 6/14/06

Shining a light into the emerging market tunnel
Metzler/Payden's Milev, whose fund invests in Russia, Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic, among others, said he's sanguine about Eastern European markets, particularly energy, telecom and finance stocks. Most of the region has fairly healthy economies growing at good rates and companies with solid earnings, he said. Rising oil prices have made the energy sector particularly promising, Milev added. Eastern Europe is also "extremely under-banked in terms of credits and mortgages," he said. Milev's company is "a little less bullish" about the telecom sector, he noted, because its robust growth has probably peaked. Turkey, which has a big textiles industry as well as large banking and consumer sectors, is a special case, Milev said. European Union accession is still a fairly long-term prospect and the country confronts many economic, political and human rights issues. "The Turkish central bank raised interest rates fairly aggressively," Milev said. "A hike like this tells us that we can probably expect the economy to slow down. The market expectation was for a smaller hike."

- CBS MarketWatch Online, 6/10/06

Jitters over rising interest rates send emerging markets tumbling
Some investors said they are simply selling and hoarding cash until things calm down. Vladimir Milev, an analyst for the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund in Los Angeles, said that 20% of his $90 million fund is now in cash, up from nearly nothing a month ago.

- Wall Street Journal, 5/23/06

Fighting spirit
Romania’s political stability, coupled with an economic growth rate of about 5% and a domestic market of more than 20 million people, prompted money management firm Metzler/Payden Funds to move into the eastern European nation’s successful equity market last year, says Vladimir Milev, a financial analyst at the firm, which has offices in Los Angeles and Frankfurt and specializes in European equities. “Their equities are more heavily discounted than, say, the Czech Republic,” says Milev, a native Bulgarian who moved to the US in 1999. “They are not as advanced as the Czech Republic, and they have farther to go economically. But when they join the EU, the discounts will be unjustified, and then opportunities for good companies will grow.”

- Global Finance Magazine, May 2006

The Allure of Europe
Emerging European markets provide the most punch. One of the hottest funds is Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund, which returned 46 percent the past 12 months and has a 53 percent three-year annualized return. "Economies of Eastern Europe, mostly Russia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania, are outperforming both the broad European and U.S. markets," said Vladimir Milev, analyst with Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets. "This a unique time in their history when staples of life that were uncommon under the socialist system--such as cars and cell phones--now provide a good business for a lot of companies." Because these new markets have been rallying since mid-2001, the concern is whether it is sustainable and at what point it will correct. The potential for volatility and correction is greater now because the markets have grown significantly and hedge funds are involved, Milev said.

- Chicago Tribune, 3/19/06

For Funds, Small Again Was Beautiful
Best Fund of 2005, European Region Funds. “A ranking of dollar-based total returns done by Lipper Fund Analysis shows first place going to Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund, with a 38% return, compared with a fund average of 12.3%. Metzler/Payden analyst Vladimir Milev says the 60-name fund is composed mainly of small-caps, but that 2005’s showing was turbocharged by some large Russian energy holdings, like Lukoil, Gazprom and Sibneft. The fund has since pared some of those holdings, he adds ….”

–Barron’s, 2/6/06

Small-Caps, Emerging Markets Add Diversity
“Some see a unique opportunity to invest in the emerging countries of Europe, amid the ongoing expansion of the European Union, but few funds are focused on this area…. Among the limited offerings is the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund (MPYMX) …. “

–Yahoo Finance, 1/24/06

Mutual Fund Top Performers - Europe Stock
Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund listed as top performing fund for one-year return (44.96%).

–Yahoo Finance, 1/18/06

Lipper Leaders
Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund listed as top performing fund for the European Region for a 52 week period (45.18%).

- The Wall Street Journal, 10/24/05

Mutual Funds Quarterly Review - Category Kings in 19 Realms
European Region Funds: Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund (MPYMX) listed as top-performing fund for one-year total return (66.97%).

- Wall Street Journal, 10/4/05

Turkey Surges as E.U. launches talks
Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund (MPYMX) nudged its Turkey exposure to 8% in June but has since dropped back to zero on the view that some valuations might be overdone. “We had a nice run in terms of performance, but the fund manager felt he couldn’t justify the valuations,” said Vladimir Milev, financial analyst for Metzler/Payden, noting that with the E.U. news now priced into the market, there is little near-term upside. “Our long-term view is that it’s an attractive growing market, but the short-term right now is that it’s not worth getting into.”

- CBS Marketwatch, 10/4/05

Well-oiled gains: Latin America, Eastern Europe, Japan funds top quarter
Four of the top five [funds], as of Sept. 28, focused on Eastern Europe and Russia: ...Metzler/Payden European [Emerging] Markets Fund (MPYMX) added 30%. Vladimir Milev, financial investment analyst at Metzler/Payden, said Russia represents about 25% of the firm’s Eastern European Markets fund. “We generally think that Russia has more headline risk than other countries in the region … but right now, oil being as high as it is, there are just a lot of companies that are very, very profitable,” said Milev.

- CBS Marketwatch, 9/30/05

Invest globally, trade locally
Vladimir Milev, financial investment analyst at Metzler/Payden, said his firm buys local stocks for their mutual funds in areas such as Eastern Europe because of the liquidity issue. “When it’s logistically impossible to buy local share, we’ll buy ADRs,” he said.

- CBS Marketwatch, 9/14/05

In Eastern Europe, ‘emerging markets’ are mature
“We are talking about countries that are emerging as capitalist societies,” [Vladimir Milev] said. “They start from a low economic base, with mostly highly educated populations and low labor costs compared to Western Europe.”

- Investment News, 9/12/05

"Russia was shaped by revolution, but Soeren Rytoft believes in Russia's evolution. Rytoft, a strategist with the Metzler/Payden European [Emerging] Markets Fund [MPYMX], sees many reasons to be bullish about Russia and Eastern Europe."

- CBS Marketwatch.com, 1/16/05

"The Central European region's stocks gained 40 percent in 2003 and 50 percent in 2004, so we may see a slowdown in the region's growth in 2005," said Soeren Rytoft with the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund which was up [53.22%]* for 2004 by owning stocks of the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia and Poland. "But even with a slowdown, we still expect 5 percent growth on average in 2005, which is above the rest of Europe and the United States."
- Chicago Tribune, 1/9/05

"You definitely need to have diversification in your mind ... you have to be diversified, and have portions of your portfolio invested in places in the world that have less correlation to the U.S. markets." says Soeren Rytoft, manager of the Metzler/Payden European Emerging Markets Fund.

- Financial Advisor, 1/05

For inquiries, please contact Kimberly Tipton at 213 830-6621 or ktipton@payden-rygel.com.