ACON Deal Receives Deal of the Year Honor at Buyouts East

Washington, D.C., March 6, 2008 -- ACON Investments LLC (“ACON”) received two awards at the 2nd Annual Buyouts Awards Dinner as part of Buyouts East. ACON won the 2007 “Deal of the Year” honors for its exit of the firm’s investment in the Brazilian supermarket chain Gbarbosa. The transaction also received the award for “2007 Emerging Market Deal of the Year.” The awards were presented by Thompson Financial and announced on their Private Equity Hub website (http://www.pehub.com). Thompson Financial evaluated the exits of all private equity firm portfolio companies during 2007 and awarded honors to exceptional transactions closed during the year based upon their total return to investors, among other criteria. Click here for complete Buyouts profile of 2007 Deal of the Year award winner.

About ACON Investments
ACON Investments is a Washington D.C.-based private equity investment firm that manages private equity funds and special purpose partnerships in the United States, Europe and Latin America. Founded in 1996, ACON and its principals have managed over $1 billion of capital. ACON pursues a theme-based investment strategy by focusing on industries and businesses at key inflection points in their development and pursues these opportunities in close partnership with established management teams. ACON has offices in Washington, Los Angeles, and Madrid, Spain.