Sovereign wins "Deal of the year: UK & Ireland" and "Mid Market Deal of the Year" at Real Deals / EVCA Private Equity Awards

Following its previous success in winning the Real Deals / BVCA "Mid Market Deal of the Year 2008" Sovereign Capital, the UK private equity Buy & Build specialist, is delighted to announce that its 11.9x investment return via the flotation of CVS last October has won two further awards. Sovereign was awarded "Deal of the Year: UK & Ireland" and went on to win the overall European Grand Prix "Mid Market Deal of the Year" category at Friday night's Real Deals / EVCA Private Equity Awards 2008.

The judges recognised the value created by Sovereign's proven Buy & Build strategy which, through 39 separate follow-on acquisitions, developed CVS into the UK's largest group of veterinary surgeries.

Having developed significant scale and transformed the landscape of the small animal, first opinion, veterinary market, Sovereign recognised the attraction of the CVS business model to quoted institutional investors and listed CVS on AIM to deliver outstanding returns to our investors.

Sovereign continues to successfully differentiate itself in the lower-mid market through its deep sector knowledge, direct origination and, above all, its consistent Buy & Build strategy.

In accepting the awards, Kevin Whittle, Partner at Sovereign said: "We are very proud of Sovereign's and management's Buy & Build success in consolidating the UK's veterinary market and delivering exceptional returns to our investors".

Sovereign has completed 20 platform, bolt-on and rollout transactions so far in 2008 in its chosen sectors of healthcare services, education & training and business support services.