Welcome to Issue 3 of Forefront.

At Computershare and Georgeson we continue to ensure that, despite the downturn in UK market activity, we are still well placed to assist with transactions, irrespective of their geographical origins.

Our offshore team in the Channel Islands now looks after over 300 clients, while our Depositary Interest team is increasingly being called upon to develop new structures to help companies raise capital in multiple markets.

Georgeson continues to work on cross border transactions and, whilst the deal volume may reduce, we’re seeing an increase in the complexities of transactions and are asked to deliver ever more innovative structures.

Finally, in response to Middle East activity and your interest in the market, we have some great news about Dubai.

I’d also like to welcome Paul Webb-Jones and Matt Edmund to the Computershare and Georgeson teams respectively. Paul is the newly appointed Managing Director of Computershare Middle East and is based in Dubai to assist companies wishing to list on the DIFX. Matt has recently joined Georgeson from Citi and prior to that worked for the London Stock Exchange as Business Development Manager in Corporate Advisory, specialising in shareholder identification and proxy solicitation for meetings and transactions. The extensive industry experience of both Paul and Matt is sure to make them both invaluable members of our team.

We’re number one! Also in this issue, we’re celebrating Computershare being voted the UK’s No. 1 Registrar in the 2008 Capital Analytics Survey of Registrars - find out which categories brought us out on top.

Enjoy the read!

Chris Holleyoak, Head of Business Development