HgCapital Trust plc Regulatory News (HGT)

3 May 2007 10:29

HG Capital Trust PLC03 May 2007 The following is the text of a press release issued by HgCapital, which managesthe investment portfolio of HgCapital Trust plc alongside those of otherinstitutional clients. The Trust, which is a listed investment trust giving investors the opportunityto participate in all of HgCapital's investments, will invest approximately £5million in Computer Software Group plc. HgCapital completes acquisition of Computer Software Group plc London, 3 May 2007. HgCapital, the sector-focused European mid-market privateequity investor, has completed the £100 million management buy-out of ComputerSoftware Group "(CS Group"). HgCapital is a leading provider of private equity finance to European mid-markettechnology companies, with offices in the UK, Germany and the Netherlands andover $3.5 billion funds under management. HgCapital's key investments in software and technology include: • IRIS Software (number one in the UK accounting practice software market) • Addison Software (number one commercial player in German tax accounting software) • Visma (the leading provider of accounting software and services to SMEs in the Nordic region) • SHL (the leading provider of proprietary online psychometric testing software & services) • Rolfe & Nolan (number one in Europe in the exchange-traded derivatives software market) • Axiom (the leading provider of IP service provisioning software to European telecom companies) CS Group comprises a market-leading Vertical Markets business unit, whichfocuses on the Legal, Compliance and Not-for-Profit sectors, and a BusinessSolutions unit, which provides business applications for midrange server users. HgCapital will be working with the existing management team to continue todevelop CS Group as an independent business and a UK-based leader in itsselected market niches. HgCapital fully supports management's strategicobjectives of maintaining organic growth, continuing to grow by acquisition andof further investing in CS Group's technology platforms to maintain itscompetitive advantage. Alex King, joining the board of CS Group on behalf of HgCapital, commented:"We are delighted to be investing in the management buy-out of CS Group, abusiness-critical, back-office vertical market software business. This is acompany which has an attractive combination of market leadership across its keybusiness units, together with a very successful track record of growth achievedboth organically and from judicious acquisitions. We plan to support themanagement team in continuing to expand the business, whilst at the same timeintegrating the acquisitions made in the last 24 months." Vin Murria, CEO of CS Group added:"This new partnership will help us focus on building a truly great business. Themanagement team is passionately committed to developing the business and, inHgCapital, we have secured an investor with longstanding experience of backingbusiness-critical application software companies. We are investing in the futureof our customers and they can expect continued excellence in service and productdevelopment. This is just the start of a very exciting new chapter in thehistory of CS Group." Contacts:HgCapitalAlex King Tel: +44 (0) 207 089 7951Kai Romberg Tel: +44 (0) 207 089 7961 MaitlandPeter Ogden Tel: +44 (0) 207 379 5151 Computer Software Group plcVinodka Murria (Chief Executive Officer) Tel: +44 (0) 7774 788 129 Financial DynamicsGiles Sanderson / Juliet Clarke Tel: +44 (0) 207 269 7145 / +44 (0) 207 831 3113 About HgCapital HgCapital is a private-equity investor in the European mid-market. We focus oninvestments with an enterprise value in the range of • 50-500 million. Ourbusiness model combines sector specialisation with dedicated, pro-active supportto our portfolio companies as well as the corresponding management expertiseacross all phases of the investment process. HgCapital manages more than • 2.7billion for some of the world's most respected institutional and privateinvestors. Our goal is to achieve outstanding results for our investors,management team and intermediaries. For further details, click www.hgcapital.com. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange