Thursday 17^th April 2008

Advent International, one of the world’s leading global buyout firms, has closed ACEE IV, its fourth fund for investment across the region, including Ukraine, at €1 billion ($1.6 billion). Advent International raises and invests dedicated funds across the Central & Eastern European region, with local teams in Warsaw, Prague, Bucharest and Kiev. These teams are supported by Advent’s other investment teams on four continents.

Advent pioneered private equity across Central Europe, raising its first fund for the region in 1994. Since that date, it has financed 35 companies in Poland, the Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey and is actively seeking investment opportunities in Ukraine.

ACEE IV will invest in companies requiring upwards of $60 million dollars of equity to build market leadership and for cross-border expansion. As with previous ACEE funds, the team can also draw upon additional capital from the firm’s global funds for very large deals - the most recent of Advent’s global funds, GPE VI, raised €6.6 billion ($10.4 bn) earlier this month.

In the last three years, Advent has backed eight companies in five Central & Eastern European countries, helping managers to build internationally competitive businesses. In the same period, Advent has exited, or partially exited, seven investments including the Bulgaria Telecommunications Company, which was sold to AIG Capital Partners in a transaction valuing BTC at €1.66 billion; Terapia, a Romanian generic pharmaceuticals business sold to Ranbaxy Laboratories Limited for $324 million and Zone Vision, which was sold to chellomedia, the European content division of UnitedGlobalCom, Inc., in a transaction valuing the company at $80 million.

Commenting on the closing of the new fund, Tamas Nagy, head of the firm’s Kiev office, said: “Since we raised of our first fund for the region, Advent has been at the forefront of private equity development in Eastern Europe, whether completing the first private equity backed public-to-private transaction in Romania or the first leveraged buy-out in Hungary or Poland. This is recognised by our investors. Ukraine is a market with outstanding potential and one in whose future we firmly believe. From our new office in Kiev, we will demonstrate our commitment to the Ukrainian business community. “

Four of the largest investors in ACEE IV, by committed capital, are GIC Special Investments, AlpInvest Partners, California State Teachers’ Retirement System and the EBRD*.

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For further information, please contact:

Tamas Nagy or Natalia Polishchuk, Advent International, +38 044 501 01 89

Chantal Ligertwood, PR for Advent International Central Europe

+44 7976 229 210

This press release is directed only to financial journalists and must not be further distributed to any person. It is not an offer or solicitation of an offer, or an invitation or inducement, to invest in any Advent International fund. No person may invest in any Advent International fund except in subject to the terms of the applicable fund documentation and applicable law.

About Advent International

Founded in 1984, Advent International is one of the world's leading global buyout firms, with offices in 15 countries on four continents. A driving force in international private equity for more than two decades, Advent has built an unparalleled global platform of over 115 investment professionals across Western and Central Europe, North America, Latin America and Asia. The firm focuses on international buyouts, strategic restructuring opportunities and growth buyouts in five core sectors, working actively with management teams to drive revenue and profit growth in portfolio companies. Since inception, Advent has raised over $23 billion in private equity capital and completed more than 200 buyout and private equity transactions valued at over $36 billion in 35 countries. For more information, visit www.adventinternational.com.

* It is not known whether the listed clients approve or disapprove of Advent International or the advisory services provided.