HGT Hg Capital Trust Plc

RNS Number:1004Y
HG Capital Trust PLC
11 June 2007


The following is the text of a press release issued by HgCapital, which manages
the investment portfolio of HgCapital Trust plc alongside those of other
institutional clients.


On completion of the sale of IRIS and CSG, HgCapital Trust plc, a listed
investment trust giving investors the opportunity to participate in all of
HgCapital's investments, will receive total consideration of approximately #27.8
million. The majority of this will be received in cash with approximately 11% of
the consideration rolled over into a new investment vehicle for the combined
businesses. The impact of the realisation on the net asset value of HgCapital
Trust plc would be an increase of approximately 69p per share over the
published May net asset value, which was issued on Friday 8th June 2007.

HgCapital sells IRIS Software and Computer Software Group to Hellman & Friedman
                        in a deal valued at #500 million

London, 11th June 2007: HgCapital, the European sector-focused mid-market
private equity investor, today announced the sale of IRIS Software ("IRIS"), the
UK's leading provider of software to accountancy practices and their customers,
and Computer Software Group ("CSG"), the UK's leading provider of software to
legal practices and not-for-profit institutions, to investment funds affiliated
with Hellman & Friedman, for an enterprise value of #500m. Closing is subject to
obtaining certain regulatory clearances. HgCapital will continue as an active
shareholder in the combined business.

HgCapital's research-driven sector approach led it to acquire IRIS in July 2004
and CSG earlier this year. During its time of ownership, HgCapital has worked
closely with both IRIS and CSG management teams to grow the businesses well
ahead of general market growth rates both organically and through acquisition.

Under HgCapital's ownership, IRIS has more than doubled employment, with staff
numbers growing from 171 to 368, while a focus on direct sales, improving
customer support and developing the product line has resulted in revenue growing
from #20 million to #45 million and profits from #7.6 million to #18.6 million.
The business has also doubled investment in product development, building on its
position as the leader in its market. IRIS has completed four acquisitions since
2004 with the support of HgCapital.

HgCapital and Hellman & Friedman recognised that merging these highly
complementary businesses would create a powerful company, which is the largest
provider of software applications to the UK accounting, legal and not-for-profit
communities and one of the largest employers in the UK software mid-market IRIS
and CSG are both recognised as the number one for customer service and product
quality in their sectors, and the combined business offers the opportunity to
provide additional products and services across the joint customer base.

Since 2003 HgCapital has completed 5 original buyouts and 6 major bolt-on
acquisitions in the SME software sector with a total deal value of #800 million
(Euro1.2 billion).

UBS Investment Bank acted as financial adviser to HgCapital and other
shareholders.

Nic Humphries, Head of TMT at HgCapital commented:

"The success of our investments in IRIS and CSG demonstrates the strength of
HgCapital's research-led sector strategy. From 2003 we conducted substantial
top-down research to identify the potential of subscription-based SME software
business models as a core target area ahead of the market. Our ownership of IRIS
then gave us a platform to identify complementary investment opportunities, and
CSG was a perfect fit, offering a similar business model, a complementary
customer base and a complementary management team.

"We are delighted to work with Hellman and Friedman to further grow the combined
business which, under our ownership, has already established itself as the
number one provider of software applications to the UK accounting, legal and
not-for-profit communities".

                                     -Ends-


Contacts:

HgCapital
Nic Humphries                Tel: +44 (0) 207 089 7888

Maitland
Peter Ogden                  Tel: +44 (0) 207 379 5151


About HgCapital

HgCapital is a private-equity investor in the European mid-market. We focus on
investments with an enterprise value in the range of Euro75-500 million. Our
business model combines sector specialisation with dedicated, pro-active support
to our portfolio companies as well as the corresponding management expertise
across all phases of the investment process. HgCapital manages more than Euro 2.7
billion for some of the world's leading institutional and private investors. Our
goal is to achieve outstanding results for our investors, management team and
intermediaries.

For further details, see www.hgcapital.com


About Hellman and Friedman

Hellman & Friedman LLC is a global private equity investment firm with in London
, New York City and San Francisco. Since its founding in 1984, the Firm has
raised and managed approximately $16 billion of committed capital. The Firm's
strategy is to invest in superior business franchises and to be a value-added
partner to management in select industries including media, financial services,
professional services, and information services. Representative investments
include DoubleClick, Inc., the NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc. (NDAQ), Gartmore
Investment Management plc, Catalina Marketing, Axel Springer AG (ASV GR),
ProSieben Sat.1 AG (PSM GR), Formula One Holdings, Ltd, LPL Holdings, Arch
Capital Group Limited (ACGL), Artisan Partners L.P., Mondrian Investment
Partners, Ltd., AlixPartners, Young & Rubicam, Inc., and others. Other software
and information services investments include: Activant Solutions Inc.,
Blackbaud, Inc, Intergraph Corporation, Kronos, Mitchell International, Inc, and
Vertafore, Inc. For more information on Hellman & Friedman, visit www.hf.com.


About IRIS

IRIS provides accounting software, business & payroll software systems and
services to more than 50,000 businesses from start ups to larger organisations
and is the UK market leader in accountancy practice software with over 15,000
practices, from sole practitioners to large firms using IRIS solutions everyday.
For further details, see www.iris.co.uk


About Computer Software Group

Computer Software Group (CSG) is the UK market leader in back-office software
for the legal and not-for-profit sectors. The company has a customer base of
over 3,000 legal practices and in addition blue-chip organisations including
Alfred Dunhill, Zurich International, Paymaster General, Arriva, Grant Thornton,
CBI, Tetra Pak, The Gap, L'Oreal, Cable & Wireless and Cancer Research UK. For
further details, see www.computersoftware.com.





                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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