APEF.L Regulatory News (APEF)

ABERDEEN PRIVATE EQUITY FUND LIMITED

UNAUDITED HALF YEARLY REPORT

FOR THE SIX MONTHS ENDED 30 SEPTEMBER 2011

Chairman's Statement

I am pleased to present to shareholders the Half-Yearly Report and unaudited condensed financial statements of the Company for the six months ended 30 September 2011.

Performance

The Company's NAV per share increased by 7.0% over the six months to 30 September 2011 (from 93.76p to 100.34p). Underlying investments rose in value over the half year, further helped by the US Dollar strengthening against sterling by 2.7% over the period. As shareholders are aware, the Company undertook a successful tender offer and simultaneous placing exercise in June resulting in major changes to the shareholder register. The Company was able to facilitate the full sale request from the largest shareholder on the register and the placing was oversubscribed, providing the Company with a number of new shareholders. A simultaneous share buy back of 13.6% of the share capital also provided the existing and new shareholders with a 3p uplift in Net Asset Value ("NAV") per share. Largely as a consequence of this buyback Total Assets (in US Dollar terms) fell by 9.8% in the six months to 30 September 2011.

Market Overview

Sentiment towards the listed private equity sector declined markedly in September as the European sovereign debt crisis became increasingly fraught. Whilst the outcome of this crisis remains uncertain, Private Equity is arguably in a better place than it was 18 months ago, and the prospects for this asset class are positive. The Investment Manager is seeing a higher level of distributions from underlying investments than in the past.

Discounts in Private Equity's secondary market remain tight, particularly for in demand managers, though buyers are being aggressive in bidding for portfolios below the asking price. Your Investment Manager is assessing a number of secondary opportunities for the Company to complement its core focus on primary investments and vintage diversification.

General Partners' Fair Market Values in their funds are on the whole being maintained at conservative levels and many exits, whether to financial buyers (generally other Private Equity funds) or strategic buyers, are coming in at levels above those which holding valuations have been implying. We were delighted to see this in Silver Lake's exit of Skype, which resulted in a distribution of $4,099,663 to the Company (representing an uplift of 168% over cost).

Share Buybacks

After a period of sustained tightening in the Company's discount to NAV per share it widened during August and September, closing the period at 40.2% (31 March 2011 - 27.2%). Since the period end this widening has continued. The Company's shares are not alone in seeing this de-rating, it has been a feature of the private equity sector as investors become more risk averse in a period of sustained market volatility. The Company acquired 17,000,000 Ordinary shares in the tender offer, and, subsequent to the period end, a further 30,000 shares have been purchased and cancelled.

Portfolio Commentary

The portfolio is maturing and the Board is encouraged to see many of the established names in the portfolio starting to deliver strong performance, particularly the Thoma Bravo and Silver Lake investments. The Company's two new investments, Northzone and Gores have made encouraging starts. Gores' early investments of Sage Automotive Interiors and National Envelope appear to be just the type of restructuring opportunities that this manager has excelled at in the past. Northzone has invested in Arvito, Russia's largest online classified portal, which is seeing phenomenal growth in user numbers.

Outlook

The Board is pleased that the Investment Manager's systematic research and review process has seeded a pipeline of strong potential investments. The strong outlook for corporate M&A activity, fuelled by the ever increasing amounts of cash held on balance sheets is likely to auger well for Private Equity exits, in an environment where the IPO market is likely to stay closed for some time. Commitment cover remains appropriate and the Board and Investment Manager always keep this under review when considering investments and buybacks.

I look forward to reporting to you again in July in respect of the year to 31 March 2012 and in the meantime shareholders will find regular monthly updates on the portfolio on the Company's website, http://www.aberdeenprivateequity.co.uk/doc.nsf/Lit/FactsheetUKClosedAberdeenPrivateEquityFund.

Interim Board Report

Principal Risk Factors

The Company's principal risks and uncertainties are as noted below. The financial risks faced by the Company, and the way in which they are managed, are described in more detail within note 18 to the Financial Statements in the Company's Annual Report for the year ended 31 March 2011. The Company's principal risks and uncertainties have not changed materially since the date of that Annual Report.

Sterling Shares

The market price and the realisable value of the Sterling shares, as well as being affected by their underlying net asset value ("NAV"), also take into account supply and demand for the Sterling shares, market conditions and general investor sentiment in the private equity sector. As such, the market price and the realisable value of the Sterling shares may fluctuate and vary considerably from the net asset value of the Sterling shares and investors may not be able to realise the value of their original investment.

Borrowings

The Company may borrow up to 25% of the NAV of the Company. Whilst the use of borrowings should enhance the total return on the Sterling shares where the return on the Company's underlying assets is rising and exceeds the cost of borrowing, it will have the opposite effect where the underlying return is less than the cost of borrowing, further reducing the total return on the Sterling shares. At present and throughout the period under review the Company did not have any borrowings.

Market Risks

The fair value or future cash flows of a financial instrument held by the Company may fluctuate because of changes in market prices. Market risk comprises three elements; interest rate risk, currency risk and other price risk. Further details of these risks are disclosed in note 18of the Annual Report and Financial Statements for the year ended 31 March 2011. Investment in private equities involves a greater degree of risk than that usually associated with investment in listed securities markets.

General

Although the Company does not have a fixed winding-up date the Articles of Incorporation require the Company to propose an ordinary resolution for continuation at its Annual General Meeting in 2013 and at every third Annual General Meeting of the Company thereafter. Therefore, unless shareholders vote to wind up the Company in 2013, shareholders will only be able to realise their investment through the market.

Taxation and Exchange Controls

Any change in the Company's tax status or in taxation legislation (including the tax treatment of dividends or other investment income received by the Company) could affect the value of the investments held by the Company, affect the Company's ability to provide returns to shareholders or alter the post-tax returns to shareholders.

Investment Strategy and Performance

Inappropriate long-term investment strategies in terms of, inter alia, asset allocation, level of gearing or Manager selection may result in underperformance of the Company against the companies within the peer group. The Board regularly considers the Company's investment strategy, the Investment Manager's recommendations for investments and divestments and monitors performance at each Board meeting.

Portfolio Risks

Private equity investments are long-term in nature and they may take a considerable period to be realised. A substantial proportion of the Company's assets are invested in limited partnerships which invest in private companies. These unquoted investments are less readily realisable than quoted securities. Such investments may therefore carry a higher degree of risk than quoted securities. In valuing its investments in private equity funds or limited partnerships and in calculating its NAV, the Company relies to a significant extent on the accuracy of financial and other information provided by these funds to the Investment Manager. Limited partnerships typically provide updated (unaudited) valuations on a quarterly or six-monthly basis.

Directors' Responsibility Statement

The Directors are responsible for preparing this Half-Yearly Report in accordance with applicable law and regulations.

The Directors confirm that this Half-Yearly Report and Condensed Half-Yearly Financial Statements have been prepared in accordance with IAS 34 'Interim Financial Reporting' and that the Chairman's Statement, Interim Board Report and Investment Manager's Review (together constituting the Interim Management Report) includes a fair review of the information required by the Disclosure and Transparency Rules (DTR) 4.2.7R and 4.2.8R, namely:

- an indication of important events that have occurred during the first six months and their impact on the Condensed Half-Yearly Financial Statements, and a description of the principal risks and uncertainties for the remaining six months of the financial year; and

- material related party transactions in the first six months and any material changes in the related party transactions described in the last Annual Report.

The Directors of the Company are listed in the Half-Yearly Report.

For and on behalf of the Board of Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited

Jonathan Carr

Chairman

24 November 2011

Manager's Review

At the end of the period, approximately 81% of the Company's NAV was invested in Private Equity funds and 19% in cash. The Company held 19 funds in its portfolio at 30 September 2011.

We set out here a summary of the NAV and share price performance:

Total Return; NAV to NAV, Net Income Reinvested, GBP

Source: Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited and Morningstar

During the first half of the Company's financial year the NAV rose by 7.0% of which 3.4% arose from share repurchases and 2.5% from exchange rate movements in which the main factor was the US Dollar which rose by approximately 2.7% vs. Sterling over the period under review. The Company maintains a physical hedge for undrawn US and Euro commitments (the Euro hedge is partial) by holding US Dollars and Euros in cash.

Portfolio Review

The sovereign debt crises in the US and, particularly, Europe have given rise to levels of concern and volatility, and also fear, in markets at a magnitude not seen since the sub prime crisis. For private equity investors there remains concern that for portfolios reaching maturity stage now, exit opportunities may well be compromised. Some of this concern is warranted particularly with regard to the IPO market, though exit via that route has for some time played a relatively small part of Private Equity's established exit routes.

For managers with partially exited public holdings we fully expect to see lower reported multiples (on invested capital) though it depends on just how much these managers have of their fund's reported value marked to market. Of greater impact on short term private equity performance will be any effect on corporate earnings and at this stage it is still too early to tell. Expansion and investment in Europe (ex Germany) is effectively on ice, but in aggregate it is still a fairly strong economy and certainly compared to the US, levels of household or private indebtedness are still relatively low.

A partial (or indeed full) disintegration of the euro is a scenario that cannot (at time of writing) be discounted, however the Company has very limited direct exposure to the weaker euro states (where there is greater risk of a post disintegration return to heavily devalued original currencies). The greater threat to the portfolio would be via any wider financial contagion that has potential to impact a now nascent US recovery. Under that scenario all financial risk assets will be impacted with sentiment towards private equity and in particular listed private equity being dented.

The overall M&A environment is likely to remain healthy and robust, driven by the need to get large amounts of yet undeployed capital to work. This capital is stored on corporate balance sheets and as dry powder in Private Equity funds' undrawn commitments. Estimates abound here, with Bloomberg putting the spare cash in the S&P 500 at approximately $1 trillion, with a similar figure for Private Equity funds' dry powder (and we note that this is before leverage is applied). Further statistics bring this position into greater focus: the S&P 500 has seen cash levels increase by 40% over the last few years1 and the ten largest global technology companies are sitting on large cash balances that need to be deployed and which in the long term, if left untouched are unlikely to help these companies' returns on capital employed (ROCE). Companies may of course elect to continue to preserve their cash and shorter term reserves for longer than the market may want. Nevertheless we feel that many of the world's larger companies will have to demonstrate very good reasons to justify not making acquisitions, if they want to supplement existing books of decelerating earnings growth. Technology is one sector in which we expect to see such activity and Google alone has acquired 24 companies already in 2011. A further alternative of course is for companies to return unused cash to shareholders; although there is "no one size fits" all solution for all companies and (in the interests of presenting a balanced argument) GE are at the stage where they now want to return cash having already used a lot of acquisition firepower in 2010. On balance however we believe that it is likely that much of such cash balances will be used on acquisitions.

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1 AAM research

Pricing for deals is likely to be robust and we may see many of the larger PE funds being drawn into richly priced deals. The managers whom Aberdeen favour, which tend to be smaller, seem to be exercising some restraint on what purchase multiples they are prepared to pay. We believe that the overpaying is therefore most likely to come from the larger managers, who have commensurately larger fixed cost bases to support and more dry powder to deploy. The Aberdeen team believe that we will also see public to private deals back on the agenda, and a continuation of private equity sales to private equity buyers.

The Company has two investments in specialist funds of Secondary funds, Greenpark International Investors III and Coller International Partners V. These funds provide vintage diversification. Coller has performed well and has to date delivered a net multiple on invested capital (MOIC) of approximately 1.3x.

The Company has exposure to four venture funds, RhoVentures VI, DFJ Athena, Tenaya Capital V and Northzone VI. Tenaya, to date, has delivered a net return of approximately 1.5x with successful investment including Quanar, China's largest online flight amalgamation service. Northzone's positive gross return to date reflects the success that Northzone have had with Avito Holdings, its Russian online classified business.

The Company's distressed sector holding in Oaktree OCM Opportunities Fund VIIb, has continued to perform well though we expect its fair market value (FMV) to dip as some of its restructured equity exposure is subject to market volatility. The holding in MatlinPatterson Global Opportunities Partners III has seen muted performance due to its Flagstar Bancorp holding, though at 87% drawn it still has the opportunity to take advantage of a renewed opportunity in the distressed credit cycle.

Within the Company's Growth Capital funds Thoma Bravo Fund IX has delivered strong recent performance and has executed two dividend recapitalisations, effectively derisking those investments by returning more than 100% of the original investment amounts. PineBridge Latin America Partners II remains troubled with none of its three investments performing well.

The Company's Buyout exposure is taken through investments in Gores Capital Partners III, Goldman Sachs Capital Partners VI, Silver Lake Partners III and Terra Firma Capital Partners III. Silver Lake has delivered a phenomenal return on its Skype investment, which it sold to Microsoft. That fund is already marked at approximately 1.5x on a net basis. Terra Firma has largely put its disastrous EMI adventure behind it, and is concentrating on trying to achieve the target of returning 1x to investors through its remaining portfolio of Italian solar, global air freight and Australian pastoral businesses. Achieving a breakeven position will be tough, though Guy Hands is determinedly and resolutely focused on this. Aberdeen believes that the best course of action is to stay with this investment. One of our newest investments Gores remains on track with its initial investment programme and has made encouraging investments in National Envelope and Sage Automotive Interiors, both of which should benefit from Gores' operational turnaround capability.

The Company's music rights investment, Resonant Music, acquires the rights to original scores for movies and TV programming and subsequently exploits those rights. These copyrights provide a long term income stream which should in due course create a valuable publishing catalogue. The success or otherwise of Resonant is unlikely to be apparent for some years, largely due to the practice of holding investments at cost for the initial three years of their lives.

Remaining Hedge Fund Positions

The Company took action to write off the very small remaining amount in Hedge Funds, legacy investments from the Company's former pan-Alternative investment mandate, under its previous manager. These were Deephaven Global Multi-Strategy Fund and King Street Capital Ltd Class S Series 9.

Hedging Activity

Other than the hedging of the US and Euro Commitments referred to above there were no currency hedges in place during the period.

Portfolio Strategy and Outlook

We have reduced the Company's level of commitment cover to 41% via a combination of new commitments and a share buyback carried out at the same time as the share tender and placing offer carried out in June. We stated this time last year that it was our intention to maintain a prudent and conservative level of cash for commitment cover but at the same time taking advantage of a number of investment ideas.

The Company has made a commitment to Lion Capital Fund III (with the first call for funds expected in early December 2011). This is a European focused consumer buyout fund, where the GP has enjoyed success with household names such as Weetabix, Wagamama and Jimmy Choo.

The strategy we discussed last year remains valid and is being actively pursued. Our principle focus remains to identify managers from a bottom up quality perspective, but within the framework of the areas that Aberdeen's Private Equity asset allocation process suggests. This is not a set of inflexible tram lines but rather a guide to where we think success is best found. This proprietary process suggests that US growth, European buyout and Pan-Asian growth strategies are likely to be of most interest.

Alexander Barr

Aberdeen Asset Managers Limited

Investment Manager

24 November 2011

Condensed Statement of Comprehensive Income

Condensed Balance Sheet

Condensed Statement of Changes in Equity

Condensed Statement of Cash Flows

Notes to the Financial Statements

Independent Review Report to Aberdeen Private Equity Fund Limited

Introduction

We have been engaged by the Company to review the condensed set of financial statements in the Half-Yearly Financial Report for the six months ended 30 September 2011, which comprises the Condensed Statement of Comprehensive Income, Condensed Balance Sheet, Condensed Statement of Changes in Equity, Condensed Statement of Cash Flows and related notes. We have read the other information contained in the half-yearly financial report and considered whether it contains any apparent misstatements or material inconsistencies with the information in the condensed set of financial statements.

Directors' Responsibilities

The half-yearly financial report is the responsibility of, and has been approved by, the Directors. The Directors are responsible for preparing the half-yearly financial report in accordance with the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority.

As disclosed in Note 2, the annual financial statements of the Company are prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards. The condensed set of financial statements included in this half-yearly financial report has been prepared in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34, 'Interim Financial Reporting'.

Our Responsibility

Our responsibility is to express to the Company a conclusion on the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report based on our review. This report, including the conclusion, has been prepared for and only for the Company for the purpose of the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the Financial Services Authority and for no other purpose. We do not, in producing this report, accept or assume responsibility for any other purpose or to any other person to whom this report is shown or into whose hands it may come save where expressly agreed by our prior consent in writing.

Scope of Review

We conducted our review in accordance with International Standard on Review Engagements 2410, 'Review of Interim Financial Information Performed by the Independent Auditor of the Entity' issued by the Auditing Practices Board. A review of interim financial information consists of making enquiries, primarily of persons responsible for financial and accounting matters, and applying analytical and other review procedures. A review is substantially less in scope than an audit conducted in accordance with International Standards on Auditing and consequently does not enable us to obtain assurance that we would become aware of all significant matters that might be identified in an audit. Accordingly, we do not express an audit opinion.

Conclusion

Based on our review, nothing has come to our attention that causes us to believe that the condensed set of financial statements in the half-yearly financial report for the six months ended 30 September 2011 is not prepared, in all material respects, in accordance with International Accounting Standard 34 and the Disclosure and Transparency Rules of the United Kingdom's Financial Services Authority.

PricewaterhouseCoopers CI LLP

Chartered Accountants

Guernsey, Channel Islands

24 November 2011

Schedule of Investments

As at 30 September 2011

The Half Yearly Report will shortly be available from the Company's website (www.aberdeenprivateequityfund.co.uk) and will be posted to shareholders in November 2011.

Neither the content of the Company's website nor the content of any website accessible from hyperlinks on the Company's website (or any other website) is (or is deemed to be) incorporated into, or forms (or is deemed to form) part of this announcement.