Praemium Ltd Information

Præmium was founded in October 2001 by Arthur Naoumidis. Utilising his extensive international experience in developing, operating and marketing portfolio services, Arthur identified the need in the Australian market for a technologically advanced portfolio administration service to effectively administer the increasing trend in financial markets towards widespread participation in direct equity investments. Præmium was formed to take advantage of that opportunity. Following 10 months of development, Præmium launched its proprietary online Portfolio Administration Service ("PAS", now V-Wrap) and secured its first clients early in 2002. These initial clients were primarily Do-it-Yourself ("DIY") investors utilising PAS to administer their own equity portfolios. However, it quickly became apparent that a much more significant opportunity lay with Præmium's growing numbers of professional adviser clientele, who needed better tools to administer and report on a multitude of equity portfolios across their own client base. Accordingly, Præmium ceased marketing to direct investors and focused its product development on the needs of accounting, financial planning and stock broking firms. V-Wrap is now enjoying considerable success. Within 4 years, the value of investments administered by V-Wrap has grown from AUD100m to AUD26bn (as of September 07). V-Wrap administers over 25,000 accounts for over 350 financial services organisations. Præmium's V-Wrap clients include some of Australia's largest financial service providers. An innovative approach to product design combined with the strength of the underlying technology has also enabled Præmium to develop its proprietary SMA technology which is currently used exclusively in Australia by BlackRock Investment Managers (Australia) Limited (formerly known as Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, MLIM). In June 2007 Præmium further expanded its range of services with the launch of p-Desktop, a powerful live market data service that is fully integrated with V-Wrap to provide the ultimate portfolio administration solution. The new online desktop application was made available exclusively to Præmium's V-Wrap and SMA clients. Præmium has also established operations in London and is now working with foundation client partners to prepare services for launch in the UK.