AXA Private Equity completes the acquisition of Souriau Paris, Monday May 5, 2003

AXA Private Equity, market leader for investment in unlisted companies, completed on April 30, 2003 the acquisition of Souriau, leader in specialised connectors for industrial, aeronautics, space and defence applications, from the FCI Group.

Souriau had sales of € 153 million in 2002. Souriau employs 1,250 people. The group’s production plants are located in France, the United States, Japan, the Dominican Republic, Morocco and India. Souriau supports its customers through a sales network covering more than 15 countries.

This acquisition will enable Souriau to accelerate its development plan while bringing the necessary resources to strengthen its technological and industrial leadership in international markets.

Under the terms of the agreements signed, AXA Private Equity will hold 85% of the capital of Souriau, alongside the management team chaired by François Calvarin and Intermediate Capital Group Plc.

This MBO is Axa Private Equity’s third large-scale transaction within the last six months, following the acquisition of Bonna Sabla and Tokheim International.

Senior debt and working capital financing for the transaction was arranged by Crédit Agricole Indosuez and ING Barings, while the Mezzanine tranche was financed by Intermediate Capital Group.

Souriau

The new group, which will continue to be known as Souriau, was created by the successive acquisitions of the industrial, aeronautics, defence and space activities of Souriau, Jupiter and Burndy. Souriau is renowned for its expertise in interconnection systems for severe environments. It has a presence in the world’s major aerospace and defence programmes and is strongly positioned in the rail, geophysical, robotics and instrumentation markets.

For further information, please visit: www.souriau.com

AXA Private Equity (Dominique Gaillard, Lise Fauconnier, Bruno Ladrière).

• AXA Private Equity advisors:
  Legal and tax advisor: Linklaters (David Aknin, Pierre Tourres, Simon Charbit)
  Accounting due diligence: Ernst & Young (Sami Rahal, Léonardo Clavijio, Cyril Stivala).
  Market due diligence: Arthur D. Little (Eric Espérance)
  Insurance due diligence: Cabinet Bessé (Christophe Parizot)
  Environmental due diligence: URS (Robert Shofstall, Hélène Vincent)
  M&A advisor: Gimar Finance (Regis Prunier, Dove Azogui)
• Banks
  CAI (Stefan Herschtel, Laurent Bouvier)
  ING Barings (César Rodriguez, Luc Sayet)
  Intermediate Capital Group (Damien Scaillierez, Hadj Djemai)
  Legal advisor: Latham (Xavier Farde)