4 November 2003
EdgeStone Capital Partners successfully raises $361 million in challenging private equity fund raising environment

Toronto, November 4, 2003 - EdgeStone Capital Partners, one of Canada's leading independent private capital managers, announced today that it has successfully completed fund raising for EdgeStone Capital Equity Fund II, L.P., its second later-stage private equity fund focused primarily on the Canadian mid-market. With commitments in excess of $361 million, the Fund is more than double the size of its predecessor fund, EdgeStone Capital Equity Fund, L.P. The Fund is EdgeStone's fifth private capital fund.

"We are very pleased that we have successfully completed one of the largest Canadian private equity fund raisings of the year despite the challenging economic environment," said Samuel L. Duboc, President and Managing Partner of EdgeStone Capital Partners. "We are especially proud that all of the institutional investors who participated in our first private equity fund returned to invest larger amounts, demonstrating their confidence in our strategy."

The Fund makes investments of $15-40 million in equity and equity-related securities of mid- and later-stage private and public companies in a broad range of industries to facilitate growth and expansion, acquisitions, consolidations and restructurings. The Fund has already made three significant investments totaling $80 million.

"The Fund will follow the same successful investing strategy that we employed with our predecessor private equity fund, which has already returned almost 1.5 times total invested capital and is on track to ultimately return over 3 times capital for its investors," said Gilbert S. Palter, COO and Managing Partner. "We are pleased that our disciplined investment approach and strong track record enabled us to secure new commitments from a number of leading U.S. institutional and high net worth investors.

The Fund is managed by Samuel L. Duboc, President and Managing Partner, Gilbert
S. Palter, COO and Managing Partner, and Guthrie J. Stewart and Alan G. Sellery, Partners.

EdgeStone manages approximately $1.4 billion across five private capital funds, making it one of Canada's largest independent providers of capital to the mid-market. EdgeStone provides capital, strategic direction and business and financial advice to help promising early-stage and mid-market companies achieve their full potential

For further information, contact

Samuel L. Duboc
President and Managing Partner
EdgeStone Capital Partners
T: 416.860.3760
Email: sduboc@edgestone.com

Gilbert S. Palter
COO and Managing Partner, Equity Fund
EdgeStone Capital Partners
T: 416.860.3789
Email: gpalter@edgestone.com