London, 13 June 2008:
HgCapital, the European sector-focused private equity investor, today announced that it is investing in Achilles Group Ltd (“Achilles”), a global leader in services for sustainable procurement focusing on buyer-sponsored supplier data management and validation services. HgCapital’s equity commitment is £42 million. The total deal value is undisclosed.

Achilles was founded in 1990 in Norway and is now headquartered in Oxfordshire, UK. The company works to identify, qualify, evaluate and monitor suppliers on behalf of major organisations worldwide. Achilles builds and supports buyer-supplier communities in many industry sectors, creating unique and powerful global networks. These sustainable procurement services help create opportunities and reduce risk in the supply chain. Achilles manages  30 supplier management services serving more than.550 of the world’s largest companies (including Shell, StatoilHydro, National Grid, Edf, Eli Lilly, Codelco) and around32,000 registered suppliers.

Buyers use Achilles services as a means of ensuring access to up-to-date financial, environmental, health-and-safety, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and other data about their key suppliers.  This makes the procurement process more cost and time effective as well as ensuring that all suppliers meet the required regulatory framework and appropriate industry standards. As global procurement becomes increasingly complex, Achilles is well positioned to take advantage of beneficial market conditions.

Kai Romberg of HgCapital, leading the transaction, commented:
“The transaction is fully in line with the HgCapital TMT’s team acquisition criteria: it is a market leader in a fast growing industry, with significant recurring revenue streams and high barriers to entry. HgCapital will support current management’s growth plans to expand further into new markets through geographical, product and industry sector development.”

Colin Maund, CEO of Achilles, said:
“We are delighted to be joining forces with HgCapital who are a respected partner with a fantastic record in growing and developing subscription-based businesses. This represents a major step forward for Achilles and will allow the business to continue to expand whilst retaining its unique culture and neutrality.”