Australia Private Equity and Venture Capital Generated Attractive Returns for Second Consecutive Quarter When Compared With S&P/ASX 300 and S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries, According to New Index

BOSTON, MA, and SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA--(Marketwire - May 9, 2011) - Australian private equity and venture capital continued to generate attractive returns over a one-, three-, five- and 10-year periods as of the quarter ended September 30, 2010, when compared with the S&P/ASX 300 Index and the S&P/ASX Small Ordinaries Index, according to the Cambridge Associates LLC Australia Private Equity and Venture Capital Index.

With the exception of the one-quarter returns for the quarter ended September 30, 2010, the Index outperformed the domestic public market indices over all time horizons reported.

"The margin of the Index's outperformance also increased, compared to the previous quarter. In addition, the Index performed favorably over most time horizons relative to the UBS Australian Composite Bond Index and UBS Australia Bank Bill Index, which are reported here as benchmarks for the domestic bond market and short-term money market respectively," said Eugene Snyman, Managing Director at Cambridge Associates' office in Sydney Australia.

Cambridge Associates LLC Australia Private Equity & Venture Capital Index Returns
for the Period ending
September 30, 2010

The Cambridge Associates LLC Australia Private Equity & Venture Capital index is an end-to-end calculation based on data compiled from 40 Australia private equity and 14 Australia venture capital funds, including fully liquidated partnerships, formed between 1997 and 2010.
⁽¹⁾ Pooled end-to-end return, net of fees, expenses, and carried interest.
Sources: Bloomberg L.P., Cambridge Associates LLC, Standard & Poor's, Thomson Datastream, UBS AG and UBS Global Asset Management.

This is the second quarterly report from the Index, which is a result of a strategic partnership between AVCAL (The Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Limited) and Cambridge Associates, global provider of independent research and investment consulting services. The response rate from Australian private equity and venture capital managers providing their financial fund data to the benchmark continues to grow, as reflected by a 25% increase in the number of funds in the benchmark from the prior quarter. "The increased coverage is providing a more robust sample size, and, relative to the prior quarter, the Australian PE/VC index has shown a strong uplift across the short, medium and long-term," said Rik Nuenighoff, a Managing Director at Cambridge Associates' Boston office.

Under the agreement between Cambridge Associates and AVCAL, AVCAL will give its members access to aggregate Australian PE and VC benchmark data and statistics. Cambridge Associates is providing the data to AVCAL as a service to its members and the global PE and VC industries overall. Cambridge Associates has a similar relationship in the U.S. with the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) for which Cambridge Associates provides quarterly U.S. Venture Capital benchmark data. In addition, Cambridge Associates has a relationship with Emerging Markets Private Equity Association (EMPEA) to provide quality Emerging Markets Private Equity benchmark data. Cambridge Associates has also played the leading role in the International Financial Institutions Emerging Markets Private Equity Benchmarking Project. In this project, the firm cooperates with major limited partners that are active in emerging markets.

About Cambridge Associates

Founded in 1973, Cambridge Associates delivers investment consulting, independent research, and performance monitoring services to over 900 institutional investors and private clients worldwide. Cambridge Associates has advised its clients on alternative assets since the 1970s and today serves its clients with more than 180 professionals dedicated to consulting, research, operational due diligence and performance reporting on these asset classes. The firm compiles the performance results for more than 4,200 private partnerships and their more than 59,000 portfolio company investments to publish its proprietary private investments benchmarks, of which the Cambridge Associates U.S. Venture Capital Index® and Cambridge Associates U.S. Private Equity Index® are widely considered to be the industry-standard benchmark statistics for these asset classes. The venture capital data is used by National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) for its quarterly benchmarks. Cambridge Associates has over 1,000 employees serving its client base globally and maintains offices in Arlington, VA; Boston; Dallas; Menlo Park, CA; London; Singapore, and Sydney, Australia. The firm has plans to open an office in Beijing in the summer of 2011. For more information about Cambridge Associates, please visit www.cambridgeassociates.com.

About AVCAL

The Australian Private Equity & Venture Capital Association Limited ("AVCAL") is a national association which represents the private equity ("PE") and venture capital ("VC") industries. AVCAL's members comprise most of the active private equity and venture capital firms in Australia. These firms provide capital for early stage companies, later stage expansion capital, and capital for management buyouts of established companies. AVCAL is located at Level 41, 1 Macquarie Place, Sydney NSW 2000 and at www.avcal.com.au.