Perpetual Limited — Capital/Financing Update 2005

Sep 25, 2005

Perpetual Investments Ltd to invest in WMRC project

The Board of ORT Ltd (ORT) announced today the signing of a Heads of Agreement between its subsidiary Organic Resource Technologies Limited (Organic) and Perpetual Investment Management Limited and Perpetual Trust Services Limited (Perpetual) acting as Responsible Entities of Perpetual's Diversified Infrastructure Funds, to enter into a detailed due diligence phase, exclusive discussions and subject to investment approval, fund the construction of the first stage of Organic's first alternative waste treatment plant, just outside Perth's CBD. The Organic built and designed plant is to process all of the Western Municipal Regional Council's (WMRC) household waste.

The agreement with Perpetual (a leading Australian infrastructure investor) is a significant milestone in the equity raising programme that Organic has been undertaking for the last six months. The agreement with Perpetual provides ORT and its subsidiary Organic, with greater certainty as to the full development of the $20 million WMRC Project. In addition to the WMRC Project, the parties have also agreed to co-operate in the joint development of future Organic alternative waste treatment plants in Australia.

In making the announcement Mr Richard Rudas, Managing Director of ORT, said, "The past six months have been challenging as we refined our business and financial models. Our focus has been on finding the best strategic investor to help us develop the WMRC project, which is the flagship project for Organic and the agreement allows us to move forward with confidence."

Mr Jerome Rowley, Chairman of Organic, added, "The involvement of Perpetual confirms that the business model and waste management processes developed by Organic can deliver a flexible solution for the management of municipal solid waste. We recognise the value of this partnership and welcome Perpetual's interest in supporting Organic as we seek to develop Australian and international markets."

"The 55,000 tonne per annum plant will be built at WMRC's Brockway Road Waste Transfer Station at Shenton Park, 6 kilometres from Perth's CBD. The patented waste treatment process does not require the large footprint that current methods require and as such is less capital intensive and ideal for siting at waste transfer stations," noted Mr Rowley.

Commenting on the signing of the Heads of Agreement, Mr Brett Lazarides, Head of Infrastructure at Perpetual, said "The responsible and efficient management of waste is a significant issue for the public sector and communities within both Australia and internationally. As a specialist investor in infrastructure, we are highly encouraged with the results of our investigations to date into the Organic technology and operating model. It is clear that investment in this sector via the Organic business model offers predictable earnings and attractive yield prospects, supported by secure long term contracts and an ability to service a substantial part of the Australian market. We are looking forward to working with Organic as they look to develop in Australia and internationally.

Mr Ron Norris, Chair of WMRC, said, "The Council welcomes the involvement of Perpetual in the next phase of development of the WMRC plant. The Council has realised for some time that it needed to find an Australian solution to the treatment of municipal solid waste. The Organic solution offers real benefits to WMRC and our ratepayers, and we look forward to the successful completion of the plant at the Shenton Park Waste Transfer Station."

Share Purchase Plan

ORT currently has a Share Purchase Plan in process which had a scheduled closure date of 27 September 2005. In view of the significance of this Heads of Agreement with Perpetual and to allow shareholders time to digest this information the Board has decided to extend the Share Purchase Plan by one week until 4 October 2005.

For further information please contact:

Mr Richard Rudas	Jerome Rowley	Anna Candler
Chairman - ORT Ltd	$\vert$ Chairman – Organic Resource	The Six Hats - Investor Relations
Tel: 08 9358 5444	Technologies Limited	02 9252 4489Tel:
Mo: 0412 00 11 56	0408 00 88 38Mob:	0412 99 55 86Mob:

Background

ORT Limited (ORT), an Australian Stock Exchange listed company, is committed to providing environmentally, socially and commercially sustainable solutions for the recycling of solid waste, including organic materials. Its unlisted subsidiary Organic Resource Technologies Ltd was founded 6 years ago to develop and market its proprietary system of treating municipal and organic waste. The company has spent the last 5 years refining the processes with a pilot plant based at Jandakot in Perth, Western Australia.

The patented waste management process takes a sequencing batch approach to the conversion of organic waste to energy and compost. The sorted organic waste stays in one vessel through all stages of the process and is only removed when the waste has been pasteurised, stabilised and converted into compost that meets both Australian and International Compost Standards. This proprietary process delivers significant business advantages:

• $\frac{1}{2}$ The single vessel method translates into tangible economic benefits:

  • o Lower operating costs significantly shorter process cycle & reduced manual intervention
  • $\circ$ Lower capital costs significantly smaller footprint for the same amount of waste processed relative to competing processes

• The smaller footprint (lower capital costs and land requirements) enables treatment of waste ŵ at the collection point - waste transfer stations etc. thereby:

  • o Increasing the potential customer base as there are many more waste transfer stations than landfill sites
  • Substantially reducing transport costs for councils because the municipal waste $\circ$ . (including organics), can be separated, processed and converted to marketable products close to the source

• The plants are modular in nature and designed so that their capacity can be scaled-up to ¥ treat increased waste volumes if required.

• Low water usage with no additional water treatment, as water is fully recycled between the vessels, and conserved throughout the process.

• High-energy efficiency as net renewable energy is produced and the bio-heat generated by the process is fully utilised.

• No environmental issues as the vessels are compact in size and there is no need for manual intervention during the processing of the waste.

• The process generates "carbon credits" which can be sold. ŵ

• .افغان Pasteurised, stabilised organic-rich compost that meets the Australian and International Standards is produced concurrently with biogas.

Perpetual Trustees Australia Limited (Perpetual Trustees) is an independent, diversified financial services group established in Australia 119 years ago. Perpetual Trustee's origins as a trust company coupled with its strong track record of investment performance have established it as one of Australia's most trusted and successful providers of financial services. Perpetual Trustees is listed on the Australian Stock Exchange with shareholder funds exceeding $370 million and a market capitalisation in excess of $2.5 billion.

Perpetual Investment Management Limited, a subsidiary of Perpetual Trustees, has been managing funds since the 1960's and is one of Australia's most highly regarded investment managers offering products and services to retail, masterfund and institutional investors in both the domestic and global investment markets. Today, Perpetual has funds under management in excess of $26 billion.

Perpetual has a dedicated infrastructure division comprising a highly experienced team with a targeted selection strategy, rigorous investment process and active asset management approach. Perpetual Infrastructure provides dedicated and professional asset management services to institutional, superannuation and other long-term investors.

Any investment in the Project would be made by its specialist infrastructure investment funds, Perpetual's Diversified Infrastructure Funds (PDIF). The funds invest primarily in equity securities issued by unlisted Australian infrastructure companies and projects.

Western Metropolitan Regional Council (WMRC) is one of Perth's regional waste management groups comprising five member councils - Mosman Park, Cottesloe, Claremont, Peppermint Grove and Subiaco.

Organic Resource Technologies Limited has an agreement with the WMRC to construct and operate a commercial-scale DiCOM® Plant at their existing waste transfer station, 6 kilometres from the Perth Central Business District. The plant will include a waste sorting and preparation facility including associated ancillary equipment. The plant will be located immediately adjacent to the existing Transfer Station building. Planning and environmental approvals have been obtained.

The plant is designed so it can be ramped-up progressively to 55,000tpa processing capacity through the construction of additional DiCOM® process vessels, and enhancement of the Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) sorting facility. The total land area required is around 2000m2.

The project will be a powerful demonstration of the potential that the DiCOM® technology presents in the municipal waste processing sector as it will, for the first time in Australia, allow for the retrofitting of existing Transfer Stations with MSW processing technology.