PRESS RELEASE

eQ Asset Management´s private equity business continued its significant growth in 2016 and private equity assets reached Euro 4.3 bn. eQ Asset Management manages a total of 20 private equity funds and discretionary portfolios. eQ´s funds invest into funds investing in Northern Europe, Eastern Europe and North America. eQ raises funds every year, alternating between Northern Europe and North America.

As eQ’s private equity business is growing, Anne Riekki M.Sc. Econ, LLM has been hired as an Investment Director. Mrs Riekki joins eQ from Finnish Industry Investment where she was a member of the management team and head of the fund investment team investing into domestic and international private equity funds. Before that, Mrs Riekki worked in the mezzanine team of Eqvitec Partners and at European Investment Fund in Luxemburg. Mrs Riekki has also served on the board of Finnish Venture Capital Association for a number of years. She will join eQ no later than 10 February 2017.

”eQ Asset Management´s private equity assets grew significantly in 2016 – we raised 400 million euros of new capital. Our most recent fund, eQ PE VIII North, raised Euro 160 million from 78 LP´s and we also signed several new discretionary mandates. 2016 also represented a record year in new investments – we committed more than Euro 240 million of client capital across the European and North American buyout markets. As interest levels are expected to remain low and stock markets volatile, we believe that investors will increasingly allocate capital to long-term alternative investments. In anticipation of this, we are strengthening our team. With her international background and expertise, Anne fits very well into our experienced team. She also possesses strong and relevant credit market intelligence. eQ will launch its first private credit-fund in early 2017 and Anne will add significant credit knowledge to the team” says Staffan Jåfs, head of private equity.

Helsinki 13 January 2017

eQ Asset Management Ltd