29 June 2007 - Gide Loyrette Nouel advises the Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites in connection with its first 1.5 billion euro capital investment programme:

The Fonds de Réserve pour les Retraites (FRR)*, which had managed assets worth 31.1 billion euros as at 31 December 2006, has just completed the process of awarding managing mandates for its first 1.5 billion euro capital investment programme, divided into four lots (Diversified European, European Small and Mid Caps, Diversified North American and Secondary European and North American).

Pantheon Ventures, Access Capital Partners, Lehman Brothers International Europe and AXA Private Equity Europe were selected from among sixty or so candidates for the attribution of these management mandates at the end of a competitive dialogue procedure.

The winners will be required to comply with the FRR’s "socially responsible investment principles". Accordingly, they will not be entitled to invest in funds engaging in hostile takeovers or in countries that do not comply with FATF rules.

For the legal aspects of the transaction, the FRR was advised by Gide Loyrette Nouel (Jean-Guillaume de Tocqueville d'Hérouville, Stéphane Puel, Antoine Sarailler and Pierre Briguet-Lamarre for finance law, Lionel Levain for public law). The Firm also acted for the FRR, in collaboration with its legal agents in the United Kingdom and Ireland, in undertaking the drafting of documentation concerning the various investment vehicles proposed to the candidates.

* Pension Reserve Fund