AXA Private Equity and Paul Capital Partners form an alliance to become the principal international player in the Secondary Fund market Paris, Wednesday March 13, 2002

The Secondary Fund investment team of AXA Private Equity and Paul Capital Partners have extended and expanded their alliance in the secondary private equity market.

With $1.3 billion available for secondary private equity transactions, the alliance is believed to have the largest amount of capital available for such purchases, and would become one of the top three international players.

Together, AXA Private Equity and Paul Capital Partners also have the most powerful team dedicated to this field, with 25 professionals throughout the world. This unique international presence with offices in Paris, San Francisco, New York, London and Frankfurt provides significant deal flow and the ability to conduct due diligence and structure attractive transactions quickly and discreetly.

The two companies are focusing their investment strategy on the acquisition of portfolios of partnership interests in private equity funds, both companies share in
limited partnerships and direct investment portfolios, which offer their investors earlier and more predictable liquidity from long-term investments.

Within the framework of their alliance, AXA Private Equity and Paul Capital Partners have already executed over 20 secondary acquisitions representing $640 million in investments over a period of three years. The portfolio established in this manner consists of interests in more than 170 private equity funds, mainly in the USA and Europe.

AXA Private Equity, an investment management company in the AXA Group which specializes in unlisted investments, covers all investment capital fields (LBO, Venture Capital, Growth Capital, Recovery, Primary and Secondary Fund of Funds). The amounts that it manages or advises in approximately 50 countries for the largest international investors are in excess of € 4 billion. It is developing its Secondary Fund business, in which it provides advisory services through two investment funds totaling € 700 millions in commitments.

About Paul Capital Partners

Paul Capital Partners, an investment management firm founded in 1991, has raised more than $2 billion in capital with a focus on three private equity areas: the acquisition of secondary interests, a primary Venture Fund of Funds and the acquisition of healthcare royalty interests. The firm has completed over 70 secondary market acquisitions from primary investors, consisting of over 230 funds with more than 2,000 underlying portfolio companies.

Press Contacts:

Paul Capital Partners
Guy Rico
Tel.: +33 1 53 53 06 06
E-mail: grico@paulcap.com
David E. Park
Tel.: +1 415 283 43 02
E-mail: dpark@paulcap.com