VENTURE CAPITAL
Crédit Agricole Private Equity partners with the Sénat and Tremplin Entreprises
 For the fifth year running, Crédit Agricole Private Equity is partnering the
Sénat for Tremplin Entreprises, the first venture capital forum in France organized
jointly with the ESSEC business school.
The aim of Tremplin Entreprises is to enable innovative entrepreneurs, selected by a committee of experts specialized
in venture capital and business creation, to meet with investors who may be interested
in financing their business or start-up project.
This 10 th edition of Tremplin Entreprises culminated on 8 and 9 July 2008 in the Sénat, when 30 prizes will be awarded
in four categories: software, internet and services, materials, components and
systems, and life sciences.
Crédit Agricole Private Equity: an active partner of CroissancePlus
 Crédit Agricole Private Equity has become an active partner of CroissancePlus
since Antoine Colboc, head of the venture capital business line at Crédit Agricole
Private Equity, was elected to that organisation's steering committee on 16 June
2006.
CroissancePlus is an independent industry group comprising more than 200 fast-growing
companies and their partners, including major banks, law firms, consultants, auditors,
head-hunters, notaries, venture capital firms and business angels.
Formed in 1997, CroissancePlus strives to disseminate a new entrepreneurial model and to support company and job creation, while sharing
the benefits of growth. Antoine Colboc intends to make a personal contribution to the organisation by
helping growth companies obtain better access to private and public financing.
Supported by Crédit Agricole Private Equity, the thirteenth Capital-IT forum took place in Paris (Espace Cardin) on April 25, 26 & 27, 2007.
 The organising committee of Capital-It, in association with investors, is seeking
to identify the companies and innovations that are attracting the most attention
at the moment and deserve to be more widely publicised so that they can raise
financing. The entrepreneurs selected to take part in this event can find financial
backing as well as assistance for networking, industrial contacts and promotions.
CRÉDIT AGRICOLE PRIVATE EQUITY
Crédit Agricole Private Equity supports PlaNet Finance
 Crédit Agricole Private Equity supports PlaNet Finance's actions for the development
of microfinance. PlaNet Finance is an international non-governmental organization
(NGO) that aims to alleviate poverty worldwide through the development of microfinance.
Every year, PlaNet Finance supports several millions of microentrepreneurs via
programmes in near 60 countries around the world with a network of international
permanent implantations.
PPP INFRASTRUCTURE
The Limerick Tunnel, a Meridiam Infrastructure investment, received the "2006 European Deal of the Year" award by Project Finance Magazine
The project includes the design, construction, financing, maintenance and management
of a toll plaza for a 675-metre immersed tube tunnel under the River Shannon and
10 km of link roads completing
Limerick
City's southern ring road. The aim is to connect
Limerick City,
Ireland's fourth largest urban area
with the national road network and to reduce traffic congestion. The 35-year
contract includes a four-year construction period followed by a toll-collection
period of approximately 31 years.
The Limerick Tunnel is the fifth toll road in
Ireland
to be built under a public-private partnership (PPP) initiative. Launched on August 2006 by the National Roads Authority
(NRA) with the support of the Transport Ministry, the tunnel project costs EUR430
M.
Meridiam Infrastructure provided the winning consortium DirectRoute, with 25%
of the equity and 50% of the mezzanine tranche. The other financial partners are
HBOs, EIB, AIB, and the industrials, Strabag, John Sisk & Son and Lagan Holdings.
LBO/EXPANSION
Crédit Agricole Private Equity partners the fourth annual LBO conference organised by Les Echos and AFIC, held on 30 May 2007.
Les Echos and AFIC, with the support of Lettre Capital Finance and in partnership
with Ashurst, Crédit Agricole Private Equity, European Capital, IKB Deutsche Industriebank,
Natixis, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Siparex and Standard & Poor's, organised their
fourth annual LBO conference on the theme of "Growth of the LBO market: what is
the impact on corporate strategy?".
The event took place on Wednesday, 30 May 2007, at Pavillon Gabriel in Paris
and was attended by over 250 people involved in the buy-out/buy-in capital and
LBO markets: investors, banks, lawyers, advisors and business managers.
A number of themes were discussed: the LBO market, trends, regulation and governance
- Financing and debt: what is the impact on corporate strategy? - LBOs and the
stock market - Management: what social responsibility applies in the context of
an LBO? Eric Pencréac'h, head of LBO & Expansion at Crédit Agricole Private Equity,
participated in the round table to discuss the latter issue.
For more information: http://www.lesechos-conferences.fr
Crédit Agricole Private Equity sponsors Premier Cercle's LBO 2007 conference
 Premier Cercle held a conference on leverage buyouts (LBOs) - "LBO 2007 - Convaincre"
- on March 30, in partnership with La Tribune and The Wall Street Journal Europe. Crédit Agricole Private Equity was sponsoring the event, alongside Egon Zehnder
International, The Boston Consulting Group and 3i. The day-long conference featured
a series of panel discussions facilitated by Anne-Sylvaine Chassany, a Wall Street Journal Europe journalist .
The conference's aim was to familiarize companies more thoroughly with LBOs,
at a time when these deals are coming under the media spotlight. The conference was a
high-level forum for corporate executives and institutional investors.
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