For Immediate Release

Valérie Blin joins Avista Partners to cover the luxury and lifestyle sector

London, January, 2009 - Avista Partners is pleased to announce that Valérie Blin has joined the firm as a Partner and Managing Director. In her new role, Ms Blin will focus exclusively on clients in the luxury and lifestyle category (fashion, hard luxury, sports, leisure, etc), providing strategic and transactional advice with dedicated industry insight.

Paul Heydon, founding partner of Avista Partners, said: "We are delighted to have someone with Valérie's reputation and wealth of experience on board to expand our coverage into the luxury and lifestyle sector. Her early and long-standing involvement in the luxury sector's corporate development means that she will be able to find optimal solutions for Avista's clients in this high-growth space. Not only will Valérie be extremely valuable to clients, but she will also help us enormously in expanding the business of Avista Partners".

After nearly 13 years in investment banking, joining Avista Partners, a sector-focused, independent and client-dedicated firm, is a logical career progression for Ms. Blin as it will allow her to deliver relevant, unbiased advice to her clients. Having followed the luxury sector from a corporate finance angle for at least 10 years, she is intimately aware of the uniquely critical strategic issues that face the industry and how, in determining the ideal strategic options, it is important to have those issues identified and addressed. Equity in any luxury business has an emotional value beyond the financial – and this must be taken into account in any corporate finance decision. Her distinctive understanding of this expanding category and corporate finance expertise will enable her to contribute to the development and growth of clients as well as this exciting new organization.

About Valérie Blin
Prior to joining Avista, Ms. Blin previously worked for Morgan Stanley, JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank where she was a senior investment banker in the European Consumer and Retail corporate finance team. Ms. Blin has been involved a number of significant transactions in the branded consumer and luxury sector, including: Hugo Boss in Permira's acquisition of Valentino Fashion Group, the SAB acquisition of Miller, Tumi's sale to Doughty Hanson, the sale of BBAG, Carlsberg's acquisition of Holsten, the sale of Bottega Veneta to Gucci, Richemont's acquisition of Van Cleef & Arpels, and the Britvic and Piaggio IPOs.

In addition to her MBA degree in both Finance and Management & Strategy from Kellogg Graduate School of Management, she holds a BA from Northwestern University and a CEP from the Institut d'Études Politiques in Paris

About Avista Partners LLP
Launched in June 2007, Avista Partners is an independent financial services firm that provides discreet and customized corporate advisory services to digital media and now, luxury /lifestyle clients globally. The firm uses its deep sector insight to develop longer-term "Trusted Adviser" relationships with clients including private and public companies, management, founders and financial investors. Based in London, United Kingdom, Avista Partners LLP is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

www.avistapartners.com