APL Acp Capital

RNS Number:0140Y
ACP Capital Limited
08 June 2007


ACP Capital Limited (AIM: APL)

8 June 2007


        ACP Capital announces Head of Equity Capital Raising Strategy


ACP Capital Limited ("ACP Capital", "ACP" or the "Company": APL.LN), the
merchant bank and asset manager focused on European small and medium sized
enterprise ("SME") markets, today announces the appointment of Emmanuel Pezier
as Head of Equity Capital Raising Strategy.

Emmanuel will primarily be responsible for establishing the appropriate strategy
for raising equity for the vehicles, furthering and developing relations with
financial advisors specialising in equity raising, and enhancing and developing
research coverage and investor relations for ACP group companies.

Emmanuel Pezier (aged 37) has over 16 years' experience of equity and
convertible offerings, most recently at Bear Stearns International Limited where
he was Managing Director Principal in the European ECM Group. During his time at
Bear Stearns, Emmanuel focused on Financial Institutions Group coverage with an
emphasis on originating, structuring and executing permanent capital vehicles
for structured credit managers, hedge funds, private equity and real estate
clients. He has worked on numerous equity offerings and advisory assignments in
his career, including recent Initial Public Offerings ("IPO"s) for Eurocastle,
Partners Group Global Opportunities and Boussard & Gavaudan.

Emmanuel's broad financing experience includes the origination and execution of
IPOs, equity block trades, accelerated bookbuilds, rights issues, convertible
securities and other equity hybrid instruments, as well as recapitalizations and
monetizations in both public and private markets. Prior to his position at Bear
Stearns, Emmanuel spent 10 years with Goldman Sachs and HSBC in London and New
York in corporate finance and equity capital markets.

ACP Capital is an active capital market participant with several successful
recent fundraisings from the equity market. These include the Company's IPO in
January 2006, secondary offerings in December 2006 and March 2007, and
sponsorship of IPOs for its managed vehicles ACP Mezzanine Limited (ACPM.LN) and
IFR Capital Plc (IFR.LN), raising in total more than Euro500 million equivalent
within eighteen months. Further vehicle launches have been announced, including
ACP Strategic Equity, ACP Senior High Yield, and a secondary equity offering for
ACP Mezzanine.

In addition to the growth plans for ACP Capital and the existing managed
vehicles, the Company has stated that it will seek to launch further managed
vehicles focusing on, amongst other areas, strategic equity holdings in European
SMEs and high-yielding senior debt instruments. Emmanuel's experience will be
valuable in structuring innovative transactions that optimise capital raising
for ACP Capital and its managed vehicles and generate attractive equity
opportunities for new investors.

Commenting on the appointment, Derek Vago, CEO of ACP Capital, said: "I am
delighted to welcome Emmanuel on board at such an exciting period of our growth.
His expertise in the area of equity offerings will propel our business forward
and prove to be invaluable in conjunction with our stated strategy of launching
one to two managed vehicles per year. This key hire of Emmanuel represents our
dedication to building our team with the highest calibre of employees, which
includes, alongside Emmanuel, a Head of Debt Underwriting who will be announced
shortly"


Enquiries:

Simon Atkinson, Collins Stewart Europe Limited
(Nominated Advisor to the Company)                         +44 (0) 20 7523 8350

Rob Bailhache & Nick Henderson, Financial Dynamics         +44 (0) 20 7269 7200
(Media Relations)


For further information on ACP Capital, please visit www.acpcapital.com.


About ACP Capital

ACP Capital Limited (LSE AIM: APL) is a Jersey-incorporated specialist
integrated finance and asset management company focusing on both the
asset-backed and non asset-backed sectors in the European small and mid-sized
enterprise (SME) market. The Company's shares were admitted to trading on AIM in
January 2006, raising approximately #50m before costs, followed by a further
#15m share placing in December 2006. In March 2007, the company completed a
further #150m capital raising in order to finance its intended development
plans, including the development of additional funding lines, managed vehicles
and strategic platforms to originate loans and assets in Germany, the UK, France
and Italy.

As an integrated finance specialist, ACP Capital offers a combination of equity,
mezzanine and senior debt to companies in niche markets, such as the German
'Mittelstand' (privately-owned SMEs), and for asset-backed transactions in the
real estate and infrastructure sectors. The Company intends to put in place
levered loan and non-investment grade funding vehicles in order to complement
its current product base with a view to providing financing solutions across the
capital structure.

As an asset manager, ACP Capital manages a series of investment vehicles that
can provide the required funding for its integrated finance capabilities. ACP
Capital intends to launch at least two managed vehicles each year in specific
sectors in its target markets. These managed vehicles are intended to take
advantage of the planned flow of asset opportunities from the expansion of the
Company's funding capabilities and strategic platforms. ACP Capital intends to
receive management and performance-related fees from these vehicles in addition
to any share price increase as a strategic equity investor. To date, ACP Capital
has launched two such vehicles, ACP Mezzanine Limited and IFR Capital plc. On 8
March 2007 ACP Capital announced that it had raised a committed leverage
facility of #125 million with Deutsche Bank for ACP Senior High Yield, a
soon-to-be-launched managed vehicle focusing on the acquisition of European
senior debt assets originated primarily through ACP Capital's SME-focused
integrated finance business, and through the primary and secondary markets.

ACP Capital's Board includes Heiner Kamps, the highly-regarded retail
entrepreneur; Francois Georges, the Director General of the international real
estate investment and development company Jesta Group; Alan Braxton, the
Managing Director of the full service real estate private equity firm Presidio
Partners LLC; Daniele Discepolo, an Italian certified barrister and Director of
Investimente e Sviluppo S.p.a.; and Derek Vago, Eric Youngblood, Nikolaj Larsen
and two other Non-Executive Directors.


About IFR Capital

IFR Capital plc (LSE AIM: IFR) is an acquisition platform targeting small and
medium-sized businesses in the continental European food industry across three
sub-sectors: retail (mainly shops/ restaurants), industry (wholesale and
production), and distribution.

Founded in October 2006 by ACP Capital and food retail entrepreneur Heiner
Kamps, IFR was admitted to trading on AIM in November 2006 after raising
approximately Euro135 million pre costs.

IFR is currently considering various opportunities in the European food sector
with a view to acquiring potentially synergistic businesses that would help
propagate the company's further growth. Further opportunities include the
ongoing expansion of IFR's new premium bakery brand, Bastians, to major European
cities. Further details of these opportunities will be announced as they become
available.

Ultimately, IFR's intended long-term strategy is to create a leading,
vertically-integrated food business with turnover of at least Euro1.5 billion by
2009 and an EBITDA margin of approximately 10%. IFR benefits from the
operational management of Heiner Kamps as well as the broad financing experience
and capabilities of ACP Capital.


About ACP Mezzanine

ACP Mezzanine Limited (LSE AIM: ACPM) is a Jersey-incorporated company that
listed on AIM in July 2006 after raising Euro100 million. Its strategy is to pursue
opportunities as a mezzanine lender, originating, structuring and underwriting
the majority of its investments. ACP Mezzanine's investment strategy is
implemented and managed by ACP Capital through an Investment Management
Agreement. ACP Mezzanine's strategy is different from that followed by a number
of participants in the mezzanine financing market, which focus on acquiring
assets directly from third parties through a syndication process.

ACP Mezzanine lends primarily across Europe, with origination arising through a
direct integrated finance approach alongside ACP Capital's strategic platforms
and managed vehicles, and, to a lesser extent, purchases of assets in the
secondary market if the expected risk adjusted returns are attractive. It is
expected that the integrated finance approach will account for at least two
thirds of ACP Mezzanine's investments over time.

ACP Mezzanine's Board includes Derek Vago, Christophe Tanghe, Wolfgang
Mellinghof and two other Non-Executive Directors.






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