Bryan, Garnier & Co. successfully completes the placement of the international tranche of Arkimedica’s € 28 million convertible bond

PARIS – December 3, 2007 – Bryan, Garnier & Co (“Bryan Garnier”), the independent pan-European investment bank focused on European growth companies, announced today the successful completion of the placement of the international tranche of Arkimedica’s € 28 million 5% November 2012 convertible bond issue (code: AKM12).

Arkimedica is an Italian Healthcare group, founded by private equity firm Cape-Natexis in 2005 and listed on the Milan Stock Exchange since August 2006. Its activities include management of nursing homes, production and sales of turn-key hospital furniture solutions, equipment and medical devices. The proceeds from this issue will enable Arkimedica to finance its acquisition plans in the nursing homes division and strengthen its position as a leading consolidator at a national level.

The international tranche was led by Bryan Garnier, acting as Sole Manager.  The offering generated strong interest from generalist and specialist convertible bond funds in France and UK-based hedge-fund investors. The international tranche was largely over-subscribed, finally representing almost 40% of the total issue.

Responding to the growing international demand for corporate hybrid capital, Bryan Garnier has strengthened its position in both advisory and placement in relation to equity-linked instruments. This is the second transaction announced over the last 4 weeks.

Commenting on this latest transaction, Gregoire Revenu, Managing Director and Head of Corporate Finance at Bryan Garnier stated: “Managed care becomes a key sector focus for Bryan Garnier Healthcare research and banking activities. Following our expertise and coverage of a number of European manufacturers and service providers in the healthcare sector, Arkimedica emerged as an interesting player in an Italian market still highly fragmented but rapidly catching up with more mature European models”.

Simone Cimino, Chairman of Arkimedica said:  “This convertible bond issue enables Arkimedica to significantly add to its financing options for external growth and accelerate the consolidation of the domestic market for managed care. Bryan Garnier demonstrated its strong placement capabilities in European capital markets and close relationships with institutional investors. The quality of the investor base presented by Bryan Garnier, which included various investment profiles and geographical diversities, were the key elements to the success of this transaction.”