January 16, 2003

New independent €660 million fund launched targeting European mid-market development capital and buy-out opportunities

• Englefield Capital LLP closes first Fund focusing on €20-50 million equity investments
• Partners combine 36 years of private equity experience and more than 30 years of operational experience at senior management level.
• Dominic Shorthouse and Etienne de Villiers come together after long and successful careers at Warburg Pincus and The Walt Disney Company.

The Partners of Englefield are delighted to announce a closing of its first fund at €660 million. Englefield was formed by Dominic Shorthouse, Etienne de Villiers, Eric Walters, Adam Barron and Edmund Lazarus. The partners are based in the United Kingdom and anticipate this to be the single largest country of investment but they expect a significant proportion of the Fund will be invested in other European markets where they have extensive experience and contacts. The Fund has been raised in conjunction with and sponsored by Bregal, a subsidiary of Cofra Holding AG, the Switzerland-based family holding company. In addition, an Affiliates Fund is being formed which will invest alongside Englefield and which will source its capital from a range of entrepreneurs known to the partners.

Englefield's investment philosophy stems from Dominic Shorthouse's 12 year experience at Warburg Pincus from 1988 to the end of 2000. During this formative period for the modern European private equity industry, Dominic was one of the three founding members of the Warburg Pincus London office established to export its successful US investment strategy to Europe and was part of a small team which invested a total of more than $2 billion of equity capital in more than 50 European private equity transactions including Argent, Channel 5, Esprit Telecom and John Charcol. He became the first non-American member of Warburg Pincus' global operating committee in 1999.

Etienne de Villiers, formerly President of Walt Disney International TV and most recently President of Walt Disney Europe, Middle East and Africa, will provide exceptional operational management skills to Englefield. During his 14-year tenure at Walt Disney, the International TV business grew from $15 million in revenues in 1986 to nearly $1 billion in 2000. In the process of building the television business, he closed deals worth over $5 billion and was involved in the creation and development of 10 middle market companies in Europe.

Eric Walters has 14 years of European private equity experience as a partner of Schroder Ventures (now Permira) from 1987 to 1997 and as a partner of Alchemy Partners from 1997 to the end of 2000. During his private equity career to date, he has been involved in over 30 investments in which approximately €750 million of equity capital was invested. Prior to this, Eric spent 15 years as a senior manager at Lex Service, Grand Metropolitan and Dominion International. He is currently a non-executive director of Blackwell Ltd., Capita Group and Holsten-Brauerei among others. Within the field of private equity, Eric will be exclusively committed to Englefield.

Adam Barron, who speaks six European languages fluently, spent five years at Warburg Pincus, initially as a generalist until he was made responsible for the firm's financial services investment practice in Europe, and played a significant role in eight investments during his tenure. Adam was recruited into Warburg Pincus to work with Dominic, and worked directly with him for several years.

Edmund Lazarus joins Englefield from Morgan Stanley Capital Partners where he was on the firm's global investment committee, having spent his prior career advising on M&A, equity and debt transactions at SG Warburg and Merrill Lynch. In parallel with his professional career, Edmund was a publicly elected official on Westminster City Council from 1992 to 2002, latterly with operational responsibility for the €750 million annual expenditure of Westminster City Council, the city government of central London.

Although not sector specific in its focus, Englefield will invest in sectors where the experience and expertise of its partners allows it to comprehensively understand the commercial issues, the valuation and the appropriate direction in which to influence the investee company. In addition, it will focus on situations where the changing European investment environment creates strongly supportive macroeconomic and/or sectoral forces. Current areas of interest include business services, particularly outsourcing and recruitment, renewable energy and retail financial services.

Englefield believes that a fundamental role of the Fund is actively to influence the portfolio companies' strategy, operations, finance and management; and to facilitate the changes necessary to achieve optimal performance. The partners also believe that middle market companies benefit most from this interaction.

Dominic Shorthouse commented "I am delighted that we have been able to raise this substantial Fund at a time of considerable global uncertainty, which we modestly believe reflects confidence in our team and our strategy. We are now able to give managers the resources they need to succeed".

Etienne de Villiers added "It is clear to me that middle market companies benefit enormously from investors who bring real operational expertise and experience to the party. I'm as excited about my new career at Englefield as I was about joining Disney 16 years ago".

Louis Brenninkmeijer, Co-Chairman of Bregal Holdings AG said "my Co-Chairman, Yves de Balmann, and I are very enthusiastic about our association with a team of this quality and we look forward to a long and prosperous partnership. This represents a significant building block in our overall private equity strategy for the Cofra Holding organisation".

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