Mr Henderson, who is currently a partner at the law firm Minter Ellison, will join Propel as its third Managing Director in the first quarter of 2008. Also, Mr Winter, a former executive at Colonial First State Private Equity with more than 10 years of transaction experience, has joined Propel as a vice-president.

“The appointment of Fraser and Sam is another significant milestone for Propel,” said Albin Kurti, a Managing Director and co-founder of Propel Investments alongside Peter Dowding.

“Fraser worked closely with us at DB Capital Partners and, more recently, at Propel and has consistently impressed us with his integrity, tenacity and people skills,” Mr Kurti said.

Propel Investments was launched in August 2007 after Deutsche Bank divested DB Capital Partners, its former direct private equity operation in Australia. Over the past 18 months, the team that is now at Propel has committed approximately A$160 million to direct private equity investments across a range of industries including smart metering, debt collection, apparel and oil and gas services.

Mr Henderson and Mr Winter will assist Propel’s founders in developing and expanding Propel's growth profile with responsibilities including the origination of new investment opportunities, negotiating and executing transactions and managing investments through to their ultimate exit.

Mr Henderson will also work with Mr Dowding and Mr Kurti on business development and strategy, including fundraising, and will become a member of Propel Investments’ investment committee.

“Fraser has been prolific in the Australian private equity market in recent years and has acted as legal adviser to ourselves and other private equity managers on numerous transactions,” said Mr Dowding, a Managing Director at Propel Investments.

“He has played an important role in many high profile private equity deals in Australia and has very strong credentials on mid market transactions,” added Mr Dowding, who is a former chairman of the Australian Private Equity and Venture Capital Association.

Over the last four/ five years, transactions that involved Mr Henderson and members of the Propel team included, among others, Breakaway, Design Works, Capelle, Fiorelli, Review, Hopkins Group, Portfolio Management Group, Advanced Well Technologies and, most recently, Metalicus. In addition, Mr Henderson has advised on other transactions involving private equity including, among others, the acquisition of Colorado (Affinity Equity Partners), Super-A Mart (Government Investment Corporation of Singapore, Partners Group and Macquarie), Mitchell Corp (AMP Capital Investors), Hirequip (Nikko) and SG Fleet (Colonial First State Private Equity) and the disposal of Loscam (DB Capital Partners), Goodlife (Colonial First State Private Equity), Pacific Nursing Solutions (DB Capital Partners) and Australian Airports (Quadrant Private Equity).

“The move from adviser to principal is a logical and an exciting one for me,” said Mr Henderson, who worked on private equity transactions in Europe and Asia before moving to Australia in January 2003.

“In recent years, the Minter Ellison Private Equity team has been prolific in advising clients who focus on the mid-market private equity space. I have been involved in many of those transactions, and bring to Propel a complementary skill set to what is already there and a network of contacts in the industry,", he said. “I have worked very closely with each member of the Propel team over the last few years, which was an important factor in my decision to join Propel. I am thoroughly looking forward to helping build on their already impressive platform,” Mr Henderson added.

Mr Dowding said Propel expects to commence fundraising for its Propel Private Equity Fund III in the first half of 2008.

“Our third fund will be in the order of A$250 million to A$350 million and will continue the team’s focus on mid market acquisition opportunities,” he said.

Separately, Propel said it has increased its interest in Perth based engineering consultancy group Advanced Well Technologies to 36%. Now pursuing a local and international expansion strategy, AWT services the upstream energy sector and employs about 100 engineering and support personnel. Terms were not disclosed.

For more information please visit www.propelinvestments.com.au or contact:

P&L Corporate Communications

Ian Pemberton David Lording

Ph: +61 (0) 2 9241 6044 Ph: +61 (0) 2 9241 6044

Mob: +61 (0) 402 256 576 Mob: +61 (0) 419 683 411