ACN Advance Capital

RNS Number:0611V
Advance Capital Invest PLC
1 December 2000


                                PRESS RELEASE

                           ADVANCE CAPITAL INVEST plc

("Advance Capital Invest" or "the Company")

                            PLACING AND LISTING ON

                   THE ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT MARKET OF THE

                            LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE

Summary:

*        Placing of 7,380,000 ordinary shares of 10p each at 25p per ordinary
         share (the "Placing"); and

*        Admission of and dealings in the entire issued share capital of the
         Company commenced today on the Alternative Investment Market           
        ("Admission").

Introduction

Advance Capital Invest, a new investment company, announces that its shares
have been admitted to the Alternative Investment Market ("AIM") of the London
Stock Exchange by way of a placing through which the Company has raised
approximately #1.87 million. Dealings in the shares will commence today.
Beeson Gregory Limited is nominated advisor and broker to the Company.

Advance Capital Invest is chaired by Nigel Whittaker, one of the founders of
Kingfisher plc and a main Board Director between 1983 and 1995.  The
management team is complimented by David Laurie, Managing Director and
co-founder of Hatter Laurie and Charles Fairbairn, Finance Director, who was
previously a director of new media businesses for Pearson plc. The
non-executive directors are Geoff Westmore, formerly the Global Leader of both
Transaction Services and Strategic M&A for PricewaterhouseCoopers and Richard
Joseph, the founder of Books Etc.


Strategy

Advance Capital Invest has been formed for the purpose of identifying and,
thereafter, acquiring a company or business in one of the following sectors:
e-commerce, information technology; software and computer services;
telecommunications; electronics and electrical equipment; media; biotech and
support services.  The intention is that such company or business would
benefit from the additional managerial and capital input which the Company
will be able to provide and which will be able to achieve rapid growth
following such input.  The Directors referred to above (the "Directors" or the
"Board") believe that, collectively, the Board possesses the expertise
necessary to identify an investment opportunity which has the potential to
achieve significant, sustainable growth and which satisfies the investment
criteria detailed below.

The Directors intend to utilise their work of contacts, commercial experience,
financial acumen and market knowledge to identify a suitable company or
business to acquire.  Once a company or business has been identified, the
Directors will seek advice from an independent consultant who is a specialist
in the relevant business sector and when terms have been agreed with the
vendors of such company or business, the Board will then seek Shareholders'
approval of any such acquisition..


Investment Criteria

The Board intends to examine, inter alia, the following matters in assessing
whether or not a company or business is suitable as an acquisition for the
Company:


*         the experience of the company's management team

*         the size of the projected market for the company's products and/or
          services

*         the potential for growth of that market

*         the stage of development of the company

*         the company's intellectual property rights

*         the company's competitive position within its markets

*         the ease of market entry for the company's products and/or services


Commenting on the Placing and  Admission, Nigel Whittaker, Chairman of Advance
Capital Invest, said:

"The listing on AIM will enhance the profile of the Company, facilitate access
to institutional investors and assist the Board in future negotiations with
any potential acquisition targets. It is the current intention of the
Directors to acquire a significant stake in a single company where the
management's expertise and financial acumen may assist in accelerating the
growth and enhancing the value of such a stake".

For further information, please contact:

Nigel Whittaker, Chairman

Alistair Mackinnon-Musson, Hudson Sandler

Tel: 020 7796 4133


BACKGROUND TO ADVANCE CAPITAL INVEST

Directors

Nigel Whittaker, Chairman (Aged 52)

Mr Whittaker has extensive public company experience, especially with
Kingfisher plc where he was one of the original four-man management team, and
was an executive director from 1983 to 1995.  He was chairman of B&Q plc from
1986 - 1989.  Since 1995 Mr Whittaker has joined the boards of several
companies including Retail Decisions plc, Madisons Coffee plc, MTI Partners
Limited and Textstyle World Limited (at each of which he is chairman).

David Laurie, Managing Director (Aged 36)

Mr Laurie has extensive experience in the property market, culminating in the
co-founding of Hatter Laurie, a company specialising in advising clients on
property investments in central London.  He was managing director of New
Capital Invest plc (now Eagle Eye Telematics plc) until October 2000.

Charles Fairbairn, Finance Director (Aged 38)

Mr Fairbairn is a chartered accountant with many years' experience in the
media sector and in growing entrepreneurial companies.  He worked for Pearson
plc, both as finance director of Pearson New Entertainment Limited, a start-up
division with interests in computer publishing, and as Group Chief Accountant.
Pearson New Entertainment Limited was sold to Apax Partners in 1998 for #142
million; since then Mr Fairbairn has been providing accountancy advice to
small and growing companies.  He is on the board of Eagle Eye Telematics plc
and Statpro Group plc.

Geoff Westmore, Non-executive Director (Aged 50)

Mr Westmore is a Chartered Accountant and formerly the Global Leader of both
Transaction Services and Strategic M&A for PricewaterhouseCoopers.  He has
been a corporate finance specialist for 20 years and his experience includes
work with large corporates, private equity institutions, flotations and
management buy-outs. .  He is on the boards of a number of companies,
including Best International Group plc and Global Operations & Administration
Limited.

Richard Joseph - Non-executive Director (Aged 44)

Mr Joseph is the founder of Books Etc, the book retailer sold to Borders
Group, Inc. in 1998.  He remained the chairman and chief executive operator of
Borders UK Limited until May 2000.  He began his career as a chartered
accountant in South Africa.

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