Initial Public Offering of portfolio companies

The directors of Net Investor PLC are pleased to report that two further investments in its portfolio are now publicly traded companies.

• Corio, Inc (CRIO) was listed on Nasdaq on 21 July 2000. Net Investor's participation is through Charter Growth Capital II, which invested at $10.22 per share. Corio, Inc. is an application service provider (ASP). ASPs manage, implement and remotely host business software from a data centre, and market research firm Giga Information Group estimates this market will reach between $2 billion and $6 billion by the end of 2002.
• Vina Technologies, Inc. (VINA) was listed on NASDAQ on 10 August 2000. Net Investor's participation is through Charter Growth Capital II, which invested at $7 per share. Vina Technologies, Inc. develops multi-service, broadband access equipment which allows ASPs to offer reliable and competitive access to small and mid-sized businesses and branch networks.
• Net Investor has committed $30 million to Charter Growth Capital II, which is a $425 million Silicon Valley based fund, with 11 investments to date including Corio, Inc. and Vina Technologies, Inc. The previous fund managed by Charter began investing in late 1997 and is, as of the end of June 2000, showing a net internal rate of return of 230 per cent.
• Six portfolio companies have now made Initial Public Offerings since Net Investor launched in February this year.

Tim Childs, Managing Director of Net Investor, comments: "These investments were made at a late stage in the companies' progress towards listing, and are examples of the success of Net Investor's investment strategy in the Information Technology sector."