The Carlyle Group Sells Remaining eAccess Common Share Holdings Via Accelerated Equity Offering

Tokyo, Japan – Global private equity firm The Carlyle Group today announced that it sold its remaining 12,500 common share holdings in eAccess Limited, one of the leading broadband providers in Japan, on June 11, 2004, Tokyo time. The transaction was executed through a simultaneous accelerated equity offering and convertible bond offering through Goldman Sachs (Japan) Ltd. and Deutsche Securities Limited and made in conjunction with other lead shareholders. eAccess’ shares were at 548,000 yen per share at the market close on June 10, 2004.

Carlyle Managing Director, Haruyasu Asakura said, “Our investment in eAccess has done exceptionally well for Carlyle and our investors. Our exit in eAccess will result in a 4x return on our initial investment made less than three years ago. We are very proud to have been associated with Dr. Semmoto and the rest of the eAccess management team, which continues to grow the business in an intensely competitive marketplace.”

eAccess was established in November 1999 to capitalize on the enormous growth potential of the Japanese broadband market by providing digital subscriber line (DSL) Internet access through major Internet service providers and systems integrators in Japan.

In September 2001, The Carlyle Group invested $26 million though its Carlyle Asia Venture Partners I fund as the pivotal lead investor in eAccess’ third private placement, along with Japan Telecom and others, and successfully capitalized the company with total funding of $90 million.

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