20th September, 2005

Ironbridge Invests in Elrond Holdings Limited and the Qualcare Group

Ironbridge, a leading independent Australasian private equity manager, announced today that it had entered into an agreement to invest in Elrond Holdings Limited ("Elrond") and the Qualcare Group ("Qualcare"), two large providers of aged care services across New Zealand. Ironbridge will invest alongside Mr Greg Tomlinson, CEO and a substantial shareholder of both businesses.

The investment is conditional upon the approval of various regulatory bodies including the statutory supervisor of the villages owned by Elrond.

Both Elrond and Qualcare own and operate integrated aged care facilities that offer residents a full spectrum of care services from day care and independent living in apartments and villas through to full 24 hour hospital care. Together the businesses own and operate 973 rest home and hospital beds and 461 villas and apartments in 16 facilities through out New Zealand making the combined entity one of the largest suppliers of aged care services in New Zealand.

Neil Broekhuizen, Managing Partner of Ironbridge, said that Elrond and Qualcare provided an ideal vehicle for Ironbridge to participate in an attractive segment of the healthcare market, the future of which was underpinned by the aging NZ population.

"Together Elrond and Qualcare have an excellent portfolio of well-located aged care facilities in major residential areas.

"We are pleased to have the opportunity to invest alongside Greg, who has a long and successful track record in the industry. We look forward to working together to firstly merge the businesses, which have until now been run independently, and then to take the resultant company through its next stage of development."

Mr Greg Tomlinson said Elrond and Qualcare had an established reputation as a caring provider of services to the aged and this would be enhanced by the presence of Ironbridge.

"I am pleased to be partnering with Ironbridge as they bring experience in the healthcare sector, corporate governance and financial strength to the business going forward."

This investment will be the sixth for Ironbridge in its 2003/4 MBO Fund.

Contacts
Ironbridge

Neil Broekhuizen
+61 2 9250 8710

Kerry McIntosh
+64 21 338 325

Qualcare

Greg Tomlinson
+64 21 464 231

Ironbridge

Ironbridge is a leading independent Australian private equity manager, managing funds in excess of A$450 million on behalf of Australian and international institutional investors. Ironbridge is focused on investments in medium to large sized management buyout and expansion capital transactions in Australia and New Zealand.

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