We are an entrepreneurial firm.

Those we partner around the world, leading

financial institutions and outstanding entrepreneurs,
share our enterprising vision. We have grown
because we understand the entrepreneurial spirit and
culture and because we operate professionally within
a framework of uncompromising ethical integrity.

In an era which is historically remarkable for

the pace of innovation and change, our
driving force has been to identify and seize
exciting
entrepreneurial
opportunities.
We bring worldwide expertise and contacts to
complement the entrepreneurial energy and
ambition of the management teams we partner.
We are privileged to have worked with many
outstanding entrepreneurs. When the market
opportunity is exceptional, the business
model bold and inventive and the
management team talented, there is every
chance of great success.
Over three decades Apax Partners has achieved
a position of international leadership in private
equity investment with L12 billion under
management or advice. Our 180 investment
professionals around the world have many
years of experience - of market conditions, of
the challenges facing entrepreneurs, of the
factors critical to world class entrepreneurial
success. This experience, together with deep
sector knowledge and a shared global vision,
enables our teams to invest ahead of the curve.
We have seen and helped cause a number
of changes in entrepreneurial opportunities
and in the entrepreneurial climate.
Our experience confirms that the personality,
vision and drive of the entrepreneur are the
keys to achieving success and that successful
entrepreneurs the world over exhibit many of
the same characteristics.
Our own purpose is to identify such people
at an early stage and to help them achieve
their aspirations by exploiting the unique
ability of Apax Partners to see and seize
opportunities, to get things done and to move
companies forward with resources and skill.

INVESTMENT CRITERIA

Early Stage and Expansion

We invest at all stages of development. Typically we will commit from L5 million to L100
million to an enterprise as a sole or lead investor. However, we will invest smaller
amounts in early stage businesses that we believe have the potential to be worth L100
million or more.
We like to invest in businesses with:
Experienced management teams
A clear business plan
Innovative technology

Strong intellectual property

International expansion
opportunities

We are also attracted by businesses with a strong brand name or proprietary assets.
Many approach us through a financial intermediary a bank, accountant or other third
party who may have had dealings with us in the past. We receive a very large number of
business plans every year many of them represent good business opportunities but
which are not necessarily appropriate for
venture capital funding.

e give entrepreneurs
the confidence to control
their own destiny, because we
demonstrate our faith in their
ability to achieve their goals.
We support them with funds
under management, through
more difficult and easier periods
alike, and back up our finance
with the powerful partnership
of teams which are among the
worlds largest and most expert.

Due to the close ongoing involvement

we have with our investee companies,
we aim to invest in companies that are
local to one of our European or other
international teams.
Most venture funds tend to focus on
companies in particular stages, sectors
and business model categories. Given
the large size of our funds, we tend to
make single investments of over L5
million. To make investments of this
scale, we are looking for significant
evidence to back up the likely success
of the business, such as established
technology, or proof of take-up among
potential suppliers/buyers.

We wish all entrepreneurs the best of success with their ventures, if you would like to submit
a business plan to Apax Partners, please email your plan to business.plans@apax.co.uk.

APAX PARTNERS

Leveraged Transactions
We have a long and successful track record in investing in leveraged transactions of large
businesses - typically management buyouts, buy-ins and recapitalisations. We like to
work in partnership with experienced, capable management teams who wish to grow their
businesses rapidly. We like to invest in companies or groups which have strong
established market positions and the potential to expand into new markets. Our global
presence and reach allows us to support effectively such initiatives.

pax Partners helps

entrepreneurs to get the
right management to work
with them and for them
productively through the
experience of partners who
have managed large businesses
themselves: who understand
the changing management
needs of companies as they
grow; and who know what
organisational and financial
structures will supply controlled
growth and high motivation.

Typically, we take a majority stake in

the company and do not syndicate our
investment outside our investor group.
We access regularly the worlds capital
markets using a variety of bank debt,
bond and equity related securities to
ensure an appropriate capital structure
for each deal. This enables us to
generate attractive investment returns
for our funds and to provide meaningful
equity ownership to management
teams whilst maximising the price of
the business to its vendors. We have
no fixed views on gearing levels as we
believe that the financing structure
should be tailored to the individual
transaction.

We work closely with the management

of the companies in which we invest.
Management often value our advice due
to our financial expertise, our
comprehensive understanding of our target industries and our global network in helping
them assess new opportunities and in supporting the expansion of their businesses.
We are interested in investing in buyouts of businesses with revenues of over L100 million
or which are growing very rapidly. Without syndication, the Apax Partners family of funds
can support buyouts of L2 billion or more.

APAX PARTNERS

In making our investment decisions we place our

primary emphasis on the ability of the business to
grow rapidly into a market leader, preferably on a
global scale. Our dedicated team of experienced
investment professionals around the world are experts
in their chosen fields and able to assess opportunities
in the wider context of their global sectors.

Where a business is substantial and already well

established, we will assess the opportunity irrespective
of the sector in which it operates. However, for early
stage opportunities we require that the business be in
one of our chosen high growth sectors.

HIGH GROWTH SECTORS

Information Technology
Apax Partners has established itself as one of the leading investors in IT businesses across
the world. We have built a large, internationally based, specialist team in order to provide
investee companies with superior access to capital and support throughout the many
stages of a technology companys development. In increasingly global markets we believe
that a truly international investment partner is crucial for building successful businesses.
We pride ourselves particularly on the value which we can bring through our extensive
knowledge and experience of the IT industry combined with a wide network of contacts
with corporates, headhunters, banks and industry analysts. One of our most important
assets is our Technology and Telecommunications Advisory Board which consists of a
mixture of top-level executives and experienced entrepreneurs covering many different
sectors and technology. These executives provide high level business contacts and
strategic guidance on a number of investee company Boards.
We continue to invest substantial amounts of capital in hardware, software and services
companies at all stages ranging from start-up to leveraged buyout.

Telecommunications
The demand for telecommunications services and products has been increasing at a
phenomenal rate driven by deregulation and an insatiable appetite for bandwidth-hungry
applications and devices.
Today, network operators and technology providers have to adapt to rapidly changing
market conditions - resulting in substantial opportunities.
Our telecommunications team invests across all industry segments, varying from growth
technologies for next generation networks to buyouts of telecommunications assets from
major operators and equipment providers.

Media
The media industry is undergoing a transition. It is rapidly being influenced if not completely
transformed by the application of technology to several areas of traditional media. In
addition, the industry is consolidating. Within this environment, entrepreneurs have many
opportunities to create valuable properties.
To identify and support these opportunities, our strategy is to maintain our extensive
expertise in all aspects of traditional media and to combine this with our experience in
the technologies that are changing the media landscape.

APAX PARTNERS

T H E N I N E AT T R I BU T E S
OF THE
ENTREPRENEUR
1 A high level of drive and energy
2 Enough self-confidence to take carefully
calculated moderate risks
3 A clear idea of money as a way
of keeping score, and as a means
of generating more money still
4 The ability to get other people to work
with you and for you productively
5 High but realistic, achievable goals
6 Belief that you can control your
own destiny
7 Readiness to learn from your own
mistakes and failures
8 A long term vision of the future
of your business
9 Intense competitive urge, with selfimposed standards of ethical integrity.

Harvard Business Review (November - December 1979)

HIGH GROWTH SECTORS

Healthcare
Our global, specialist healthcare team invests in all stages of development, from early
stage to large-scale buyouts across all territories. We are predominantly interested in
advances in therapeutics, technologies that address bottlenecks in the drug discovery
value chain, medical devices and areas of convergence where we can leverage other Apax
Partners areas of specialist expertise such as technology.
We are also interested in partnering with leading pharmaceutical companies in the
development of assets into promising new companies; for example existing portfolios of
non-core drugs and early stage research entities with existing underlying technologies.
In addition we actively seek large-scale transactions across the full healthcare spectrum
where the existing business has a positive cash flow.

Financial Services
The European financial services industry is experiencing an overdue revolution.
The value chain is unbundling; intermediary relationships are changing; customers
demand best advice and cheapest execution, but not necessarily from integrated
providers. Financial engineering is building the bridge between balance sheet provision
and customer need.
New brands and new alliances are emerging daily. The opportunity for entrepreneurial
gain has never been greater. Yet scale remains key in processing activities and
incumbency with the customer is valuable.
We are interested in partnering with major financial institutions to develop new, high
growth companies through commercialising existing internal cost centres. We are also
looking at product distribution partnerships, and are always seeking opportunities to
invest in enabling technologies.

Retail and Consumer

There are outstanding opportunities for growth in the retail and consumer sectors for
businesses offering a differentiated product. Three key consumer trends provide scope
for growth in these sectors: convenience, health and leisure. These trends are recurring
as common themes in many investment opportunities today.
Mid-market sectors are declining as industries polarise towards premium/added value or
low price/low cost. Consolidation, leading to improved business efficiency, is particularly
crucial in the latter area. Meanwhile, new methods of communication and distribution are
offering the opportunity to augment or completely restructure the business model,
providing customer benefits and cost efficiencies.

APAX PARTNERS

A PA X PA R T N E R S

History
The UK, France and USA offices of MMG were co-founded in 1972 by Sir Ronald Cohen and
Maurice Tchnio to provide international corporate finance advice to and to invest in highgrowth businesses. Separately, Alan Patricof launched Alan Patricof Associates in the USA
in 1969. Five years later, in 1977, the three founders joined forces. Together with the
partners who have joined the firm over the years they have taken a pioneering role in
venture capital, first in the USA and then in the UK and in Continental Europe and most
recently in Israel and Japan.

e assist entrepreneurs
to form high but realistic
achievable goals by our
willingness to listen to the
most ambitious plans and by
the enlightened pragmatism
with which we test their validity.
Our purpose is not only to
ensure that high entrepreneurial
ambition is achievable, but to
help achieve the goals for
achievement is what excites us.

It has been a part of the philosophy of

the firm to engage actively in shaping
the international venture capital
industry. Many members of the firm
have become leading figures in the
international private equity industry and
several have been closely associated
with its development.

Sir Ronald was Chairman of the British

Venture Capital Association in 1985 and
a Founder Director both of the European
Venture Capital Association and the
Quoted Companies Alliance (formerly
CISCO). He was a founder of EASDAQ
and is now a Director of Nasdaq Europe.
He is currently Chairman of the UK
Social Investment Task Force. Alan
Patricof was appointed by President
Clinton as Chairman of the White House
Conference on Small Business. Maurice Tchnio was a founder and Vice-Chairman of
Frances Venture Capital Association (AFIC) and a Director of the European Venture Capital
Association.
The firm has provided three Chairmen of the British Venture Capital Association, a President
of the US National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), a Chairman-elect of the
European Venture Capital Association (EVCA), a Vice Chairman and Chairman of the
French Venture Capital Association (AFIC) and a Vice President of the Swiss Venture
Capital Association.

APAX PARTNERS

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