Contact: Chris Tofalli
Broadgate Consultants, Inc.
(212) 232-2222
For Immediate Release

NEW YORK, April 5, 1999 — Independence Holdings Partners LLC today announced it has closed Independence Private Equity Select, a new Fund specifically targeted to individuals seeking investment exposure to leveraged buyout and private equity funds. This unique fund-of-funds provides individual investors the opportunity to co-invest with large institutions in a portfolio of private equity funds managed by prominent advisors.

Independence Holdings Partners created the Fund in response to the emergence of private equity as an attractive asset class offering diversification from traditional forms of public securities. Recent volatility in the equity markets has led an increasing number of investors to seek alternative investments that lack the daily fluctuations associated with the stock market. Over the last two decades, private equity investments have delivered returns significantly exceeding the public equity markets while providing lower overall volatility.

Investors in the Independence Private Equity Select Fund obtain a portfolio of private equity investments diversified by investment strategy, industry focus and geographic location. The Funds selected, Apollo Advisors Fund IV, LP; Clayton, Dubilier & Rice Fund VI, LP; and Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Equity Fund IV, LP, are managed by the industry's most prominent and successful asset managers.

Fund-of-funds structures offer individual investors easy entry into private equity investment, allowing for broad exposure to quality management and reducing the minimum capital required for participation in the asset class. "Because of the large amount of capital traditionally required for investment with most private equity managers, participation in private equity and LBO funds has been limited to large institutional investors," said Mark Klein, Managing Member of Independence Holdings Partners LLC. "The Independence Private Equity Select Fund provides a vehicle for select individual investors to invest a minimum of $250,000 in a diverse portfolio of private equity investments managed by proven and experienced asset managers."

By pooling the capital of numerous individual investors, the Independence Private Equity Select Fund is able to invest alongside much larger institutional investors. "The Fund’s objective is to achieve returns that are in excess of those historically generated by conventional public equity investments. Private equity is a proven asset class that has generated exceptional returns over varying market cycles and is a meaningful compliment to investing in the public equity markets," said Mr. Nuno Brandolini, Managing Member of Independence Holdings Partners and Chairman of Scorpion Holdings, Inc., a merchant banking firm based in New York that manages over $500 million of private equity capital.

The selection process for the Independence Private Equity Select Fund involved a lengthy review of over 70 private equity managers. "Our position as an unaffiliated, independent provider of private equity products allows us to select the best managers available for the Fund," said Mr. Jeffrey Gendel, Managing Director of the Independence Private Equity Select Fund. "We have the freedom to select managers who offer a combination of the best track record, proven expertise, and management skill."

Independence Holdings Partners LLC creates and manages private equity and related fund-of-funds products for individual investors. The firm has committed $100 million to a family of private equity fund-of-funds, of which the Independence Private Equity Select Fund is the first.