21st January, 2008

Virgin Money has today launched its new “Virgin Climate Change Fund” in which the fund’s manager, GLG Partners, uses Trucost data to provide the public with the opportunity to invest in high performing companies which are also environmental leaders in their sectors.

The fund can invest in companies from all industries, but will only invest in those which have a lighter than average environmental footprint for their sector. GLG’s expertise has, until now, only been available to high net worth individuals and institutional investors.

GLG will first select companies based on their own financial analysis and then further screen those companies through the GLG Proprietary Green Filter. This filter will use Trucost data to identify the best companies in their sectors from an environmental standpoint. Trucost assesses over 700 factors such as greenhouse gas emissions, resource and water usage, nuclear waste, contributions to acid rain and smog, as well as waste generation to work out a company’s “environmental footprint”.

These lighter footprint stocks make up 75-100% of the Virgin Climate Change Fund with up to 15% invested in solution adopters and up to 10% invested in solution providers. The fund is open to investors from 21 January 2008.

Sir Richard Branson, Virgin founder, said: “Climate change is an issue which affects us all. Consumers are changing the way they spend and are increasingly looking for more environmentally friendly ways of investing their money too. I’m delighted to be launching the Virgin Climate Change Fund and look forward to delivering our investors excellent performance without it costing the Earth.”

Trucost Chief Executive Simon Thomas said: “We present environmental impacts financially to allow fund managers to rank companies as heavier or lighter polluters in their industry sectors. This approach also helps them to understand how environmental issues can affect future earnings.”

About Trucost

Trucost, an environmental research organisation, is widely regarded as the benchmark provider of environmental footprint data and has analysed over $300bn of assets in more than 600 individual funds. With over eight years’ experience working alongside leading fund managers, such as GLG, its data and analysis on company emissions and natural resource usage is second to none. Trucost maintains a database of environmental impacts and disclosures for over 4,000 companies, making it the world’s largest record of greenhouse gas emissions. Coverage includes the FTSE All-Share, S&P 500, Russell 1000, Nikkei 225, DJ STOXX 600, MSCI World Developed, MSCI Europe, MSCI Asia ex-Japan and ASX 200 indices.

Trucost offers expert advice and research to major corporations, both public and private, institutional investors and to Government departments and associated agencies. It also co-wrote the environmental reporting guidelines for the UK Government published in 2006.

For more information please contact:
Theo Moore, Brunswick Group
+44 (0)20 7404 5959
tmoore@brunwsickgroup.com

About Virgin Money

Virgin Money is Virgin’s financial services arm and was established in 1995. Virgin Money has almost 2 million customers and offers a wide range of financial products across lending (e.g. credit cards and personal loans), savings (e.g. deposits, investments and pensions) and protection (e.g. life assurance, household and car insurance) to the UK market. Virgin Money Personal Financial Service Ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

About the Virgin Climate Change Fund

An environmental fund with a difference – The fund invests in all industries and sectors offering high-growth opportunities. Fund managers ‘cherry pick’ companies which have the potential to deliver the highest economic returns, and then identify those with the best environmental credentials. Analysis shows environmentally aware companies can deliver a better investment return. The investment strategy is based on extensive research and input from leading investment and environmental specialists.

Further information: www.virginmoney.com

About GLG Partners LP

GLG, is authorised and regulated by the UK Financial Services Authority and is one of the largest independent alternative asset managers in Europe. It offers its base of long-standing prestigious clients a diverse range of investment products and account management services. GLG’s focus is on preserving client’s capital and achieving consistent, superior absolute returns with low volatility and low correlations to both the equity and fixed income markets. Since its inception in 1995, GLG has built on the roots of its founders in the private wealth management industry to develop into one of Europe’s largest and most recognized alternative investment managers, while maintaining its tradition of client-focused product development and customer service. As of 28 September 2007, GLG managed gross assets under management of approximately $23 billion.

For further information please visit: www.glgpartners.com