Shariah Capital Inc., announces Shariah Capital/GRT Account


Connecticut, USA -- (MARKET WIRE) -- March 27, 2007 --

PRESS RELEASE

27 March 2007


Shariah Capital Inc., a Shariah advisory and consulting firm, and GRT Capital
Partners, a multi-strategy investment adviser, announced today the launch of a
unique Shariah-compliant managed account.  Barclays Capital is acting as sole
prime broker for the new account.


Shariah Capital believes the account structure and launch with Barclays Capital
represent significant milestones in the Islamic finance and alternative
investment world:


-   It is the first strategy to use a classical Islamic Arboon structure which 
    incorporates hedging techniques. The Organization of the Islamic Conference 
    (OIC) Fiqh Academy previously approved the use of such structures for modern 
    financial transactions.


-   It signifies the implementation of a Shariah-compliant prime brokerage 
    arrangement that allows the use of alternatives for both short sales and 
    listed options without disrupting the prime broker's customary business 
    model


-   It is the first to utilize Shariah Capital's proprietary screening software 
    and compliance criteria for an expanded universe of approved companies. This 
    universe exceeds the pool of companies eligible under current Islamic  
    screens by a significant factor, in many cases by more than 100%.


-   It represents an open platform for investment managers to offer a Shariah 
    compliant equivalent to their conventional portfolios without fundamentally 
    changing their strategies and processes.


GRT will manage the account following a 130/30 quantitative strategy closely
resembling its conventional 360 market neutral strategy.  Kim Peters and Tim
Krochuk will have direct management responsibility for the new account.


The account will follow strict Shariah guidelines and employ not only Shariah
Capital's proprietary screening software but also its fatawa-approved Shariah
solutions that replicate short-sales, options and leverage. Shaykh Yusuf Talal
DeLorenzo, Shariah Capital's Chief Shariah Officer, will monitor the account's
ongoing compliance.

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Eric Meyer, Shariah Capital's Chairman and CEO, commented: "This is an historic
event. A conventional alternative investment manager now is using our Shariah
screens and methodologies to manage a live Shariah compliant portfolio without
fundamentally changing his conventional investment strategy. This account will
demonstrate that, with innovative solutions and the support of
internationally-recognized Shariah scholars, Western investment managers can
accommodate the criteria of Islamic investors who have long sought the higher
returns and lower volatility of absolute return strategies."


"Shariah Capital intends to build a broad platform of Shariah compliant
alternative investment managers available to both institutional and individual
investors around the world. These managers and their underlying strategies then
can be configured into structured products and other vehicles for investors with
a Shariah compliant mandate. We are actively speaking with managers whose
strategies can comply with Shariah to join this platform."


Tim Krochuk added: "Speaking at recent conferences in Dubai and meeting
prospective investors in the Gulf, I continually was impressed by the growing
demand for Islamic products, particularly those that reduce market volatility
and deliver consistent, absolute returns. With the Shariah Capital platform, a
Shariah compliant investor could eventually scale across eight of GRT's
investment strategies, which include 130/30, health care and technology
strategies, as well as US, European and Asian market neutral strategies for
truly diversified exposure. GRT's strategies, managed Shariah compliant, could
be ideal components for a Shariah compliant structured product offering."


Shaykh Yusuf commented further: "I am extremely proud to have been part of the
team of Shariah scholars that helped to develop and then approved Shariah
Capital's tool kit, including short sale and option alternatives, refined
Shariah compliance criteria and screening software. The expanded universe of
Shariah compliant companies is the result of more efficient and, at the same
time, more conservative criteria and represents a quantum leap from the number
of companies currently approved by prevalent industry screens. I believe this
dramatic increase in permissible companies will do for the alternative
investment industry what the early Islamic indices did for the exponential
growth of Islamic mutual funds. The investment alternatives made possible by our
screens and short-sale solution will attract not only Islamic investors but also
experienced and skillful investment managers, thereby enhancing risk management
capabilities for the entire Islamic finance industry."


"For the first time, we have a truly Shariah-compliant alternative investment
product with the ability to clear trades through a major prime broker. This is a
historical breakthrough for Islamic Finance, and it is impossible to estimate
the significance of this development other than to say that the way to
alternative asset management for Islamic investors is now wide open."


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Shariah Capital, Inc. (http://www.shariahcap.com) is a multi-dimensional
U.S.-based company that creates and customizes Shariah compliant financial
products and provides Shariah compliant consulting and advisory services
primarily to financial institutions and investment management firms with product
platforms directed to Islamic institutional and individual investors.
Boston-based GRT Capital Partners, led by money management veterans from
Fidelity Investments and State Street Research, currently manages alternative
investment strategies primarily for U.S. institutional investors.  GRT Capital
Partners, LLC is a registered investment adviser.


                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange