Investcorp to Acquire Moody International

London - January 2, 2007 - Investcorp, the asset management firm specializing in alternative investments, today announced that it had agreed to acquire Moody International (Holdings) Limited from Close Brothers Private Equity for $311 million (including debt to be repaid at closing).

Moody, headquartered in the UK, is a leading global provider of inspection services and outsourced personnel supply to the oil and gas, mining and construction sectors, as well as a leading provider of certification services in certain high growth markets. Moody's blue chip client base includes many multi-national and local clients. The Company's range of services includes on-site vendor inspection, expediting, fabrication inspection and maintenance inspection services to many of the world's leading oil and gas companies. Moody utilizes a global network of offices to co-ordinate the provision of these services for its clients primarily in support of their upstream oil and gas development projects.

Commenting on the transaction, Steven Puccinelli, head of Investcorp's European private equity team, said: "The acquisition of Moody represents an attractive investment opportunity for Investcorp given its leading niche positions, earnings generated worldwide from a very high quality client base, and the continuing strong growth in demand for services in the oil and gas sectors."

Brendan Connolly, CEO of Moody International commented: "With the backing of Investcorp we are ready to accelerate our expansion plans, strengthen our position in key countries and continue our development of new services to assist and serve our clients. We also expect to take advantage of Investcorp's knowledge to increase our footprint in the Gulf. We look forward to our new challenges, as we have the right team and the right partner to deliver our Global strategy."

Closing is expected to occur at the end of January 2007.