Sovereign Capital makes two new appointments

Sovereign Capital, the independent UK lower mid-market private equity provider, today announced that Kevin Whittle has joined the team as Director of Portfolio Services and Paul Egan has joined as Investment Manager.

Kevin joins Sovereign from ISIS Equity Partners, where he had worked for three years as Portfolio Director representing the firm's funds on a number of portfolio company boards. Five of these companies were successfully exited in the period. Before that, Kevin worked for five years within a private equity-backed group of companies, first as CFO and then as Group CEO. A chartered accountant, Kevin has also worked in the corporate finance advisory departments of Deloitte's and Ernst & Young; in the latter role he advised management teams on private equity transactions.

Paul joins from Kleinwort Capital, where he was involved in a number of transactions over three years including the MBO of Vivista Limited, a leading provider of information and communication technology and business support services to the public sector, from Securicor PLC. Before that, Paul was a management consultant with Cap Gemini Ernst & Young.

Peter Brooks, Sovereign Capital's Managing Partner, commented:

"We are delighted to have Kevin and Paul on board. With the pace of new investment, the buy & build strategies being implemented in the portfolio and our new £275 million fund, we have been seeking to expand the team with good quality private equity executives. We know both Kevin and Paul will contribute to the development of our existing portfolio as well as future investments."

Sovereign, announced the close of its second Fund in May 2005 at £275 million. Recent investments include the BIMBO of Pelcombe Training Limited and the IBO of Cliff & Silverwood Schools.