Providence Equity Partners Opens Offices in Hong Kong and India to Support Growing Asia Investment Activities.

Andrew Rickards, Current Rothschild Asia CEO and Former Goldman Sachs Co-Head of CME Asia Pacific, to Lead Asia Investment Activities

Biswajit Subramanian, a Providence Equity Managing Director in London, to Head Office in New Delhi 

PROVIDENCE, R.I. -- Providence Equity Partners Inc., the leading private equity investment firm specializing in media, entertainment, communications and information companies, announced today that it is opening offices in Hong Kong and New Delhi to support its growing investment activities across Asia. Andrew Rickards, current Chief Executive Officer of N.M. Rothschild & Sons in Asia and former co-head of Communications, Media & Entertainment (CME) Asia Pacific for Goldman Sachs, will join Providence to lead its Asia investment activities. He will serve as a Managing Director based in Hong Kong where he will be joined by Thura Ko, currently an Assistant Director at Rothschild in Asia and a former member of the CME team at Goldman Sachs in Asia.

Biswajit Subramanian, a Managing Director of Providence Equity in London who joined the firm in 2000, will head the new office in New Delhi. Mr. Subramanian has been involved in Providence investments in telephone networks, cable television systems, programming content and wireless, among other industry segments. He currently serves as a director on the boards of several Providence Equity portfolio companies, including Hallmark International, Recoletos Grupo de Comunicacion S.A. and India-based Idea Cellular, a recent investment which he led for Providence Equity. He is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Kabel Deutschland GmbH.

"Providence has been active in Asia for some time, and we are fortunate to have built strong relationships with proven managers and investors across the region," said Jonathan M. Nelson, Chief Executive Officer of Providence Equity. "Given our existing relationships in Asia, the broad range of investment opportunities we are seeing in our target sectors, and the fact that we have the right team in Andrew and Bis, we feel now is an opportune time to formally establish offices in Hong Kong and India. We are continuing to employ the same sector-focused investment strategy in Asia that has been successful in Europe and North America."

"I am excited to be joining Providence Equity because it is the premier private equity firm in the industries that have been the focus of my career in Asia for over 15 years," said Mr. Rickards. "By leveraging Providence Equity's unparalleled industry expertise and our strong network of relationships in the region, we expect to partner with CEOs and operators driving current and future market-leading businesses in Asia."

Based in Hong Kong, Mr. Rickards has served as CEO of N.M. Rothschild & Sons in Asia for the past three years. Prior to joining Rothschild, he was co-head of CME Asia Pacific for Goldman Sachs based in Hong Kong and Sydney where he worked with some of the region's largest telecommunications companies including Chunghwa Telecom in Taiwan, SK Telecom in Korea and Telstra in Australia. Prior to joining Goldman he was head of Telecom, Media & Technology investment banking in Asia for Schroders and BZW. During his time at BZW, Mr Rickards was seconded to British Telecom to be Head of Businesses Development Asia Pacific. He is a qualified Chartered Accountant and has a degree in Engineering Science from Exeter University. In addition to Hong Kong he has lived in Australia, India, Japan and Singapore.

Before joining Providence Equity in 2000, Mr. Subramanian was a Vice President at Morgan Stanley & Co. in London, where he was part of the European telecommunications investment banking team. During his tenure at Morgan Stanley, Mr. Subramanian had extensive corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions transaction experience and worked in a wide range of communications sectors. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Mr. Subramanian worked at Credit Suisse First Boston, McKinsey & Co. and Intel Corporation. He received an M.B.A. degree from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, a M.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology.

Providence Equity Partners Inc. is a global private investment firm specializing in equity investments in media, entertainment, communications and information companies around the world. The principals of Providence Equity manage funds with $20 billion in equity commitments and have invested in more than 100 companies operating in over 20 countries since the firm's inception in 1990. Significant investments include Bresnan Broadband Holdings, Casema, Comhem, Digiturk, Education Management Corporation, eircom, Freedom Communications, Idea Cellular, Kabel Deutschland, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Ono, PanAmSat, ProSiebenSat.1, Recoletos, SunGard, TDC, VoiceStream Wireless, Warner Music Group, Western Wireless and Yankees Entertainment Sports Network. Providence Equity is headquartered in Providence, RI and has offices in New York and London.