Interim Results For The Six Months Ended 30 September 2006

Private Equity Investor PLC (“PEI” or “the Company”), the investment trust that seeks to achieve substantial capital appreciation by investment in specialised US venture capital funds focused on the IT and other technology sectors, announces its interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2006.

Key points:

• Cash and stock distributions of $16.6 million, including a further $11.3 million from Baidu
• Seven IPOs of investee companies: Techwell, Targacept, Novacea, Vonage, DivX, CommVault Systems and eHealth, Inc
• Three new fund commitments totalling $13 million
• Cash and readily realisable assets grew to $58 million
• Net cash position of $28 million
• Creation of subsidiary Campton Group Inc as fund of funds adviser
• New Distribution Policy: Cash in excess of $20 million and future distributions received from the current portfolio to be distributed over time

Peter Dicks, Chairman, commented: “PEI has made excellent progress over the last eighteen months and is now considering options for structuring and raising new funds. It is envisaged that PEI will reserve $20 million of its existing liquid resources for these purposes and will seek ways to distribute amounts in excess of this, arising from its investment portfolio to shareholders over time.”

For further information please contact:

• Peter Dicks
  Private Equity Investor PLC
  Tel: 020 7563 1630
• David Foxman/Robyn Samuelson
  Tavistock Communications
  Tel: 020 7920 3150

CHAIRMAN’S STATEMENT

Results

I am pleased to present Private Equity Investor’s interim results for the six months ended 30 September 2006. During the period, net assets attributable to ordinary shareholders increased from 170.78 pence per share to 172.18 pence per share, or just under 1%, and increased in dollar terms from 296.23 cents per share to 321.62 cents per share, or approximately 8.6%. Changes in the value of public stocks held by PEI’s Limited Partnerships accounted for most of the increase in the dollar based NAV. The Company’s share price increased from 164.75 pence to 166.75 pence. During the same period the NASDAQ composite index fell by 3.35% to 2258.43. Over the period, the US dollar/sterling exchange rate moved from $1.73 to $1.87.

No dividend is proposed for the period.

Portfolio Review

As at 30 September 2006 the Company was invested in 21 venture funds and these holdings were valued at $106 million. Undrawn commitments totalled $31.1 million, against which the Company had cash and liquid resources totalling $54.9 million. In the six month period to 30 September 2006 the Company paid $5.7 million in capital drawdowns to its Limited Partnerships compared with $10.9 million for the equivalent period to 30 September 2005.

Distributions received in the six month period to 30 September 2006 from our Limited Partnerships were $16.6 million compared with $27.9 million in the six months to 31 March 2006 and $2.9 million for the equivalent period to 30 September 2005. Cash distributions accounted for $3.0 million and stock for $13.6 million. Since the period end the Company has received further distributions totalling $6.8 million, $3.5 million in cash and $3.3 million in stock.

The total of $16.6 million during the period was received as a result of distributions from 15 separate sales or IPOs. Of this figure some $11.3 million came from the receipt of 146,301 shares of Baidu, the leading Chinese-based search engine. These shares were sold at an average price of $77.07 representing a small premium to the distribution price to PEI. As a result of this sale, PEI has now received a total of $16.4 million from the sales of Baidu shares over the last nine months. We estimate that there remain approximately 25,000 shares of Baidu which PEI is due to receive when the final distribution is made. The next largest amount of cash received came as a result of a distribution of 25,809 shares in Focus Media which resulted in proceeds of $1.6 million to PEI. Focus Media is a Chinese-based company selling out-of-home television advertising. Both Baidu and Focus Media were investments of DFJ ePlanet.

In July the Company committed a total of $8 million to two successor funds to existing holdings, $5 million to VantagePoint 2006 Fund and $3 million to NEA 12. Additionally, a $5 million commitment was made to a new group for PEI, Francisco Partners II. NEA and VantagePoint expect these new funds to follow similar investment policies to their immediate predecessors, NEA 11 and VantagePoint IV, both of which are expected to be strong performers for PEI.

Francisco, based in Menlo Park, California, have approximately $5.0 billion of committed capital under management. They invest in divisional divestitures, acquisitions of private and public companies, and strategic minority investments in public and private companies. The group has a team of 30 investment professionals worldwide and seek investments ranging from, in some cases, less than $25 million to over $500 million. Francisco are active across a broad range of technology sectors including semiconductors and capital equipment, electronics components and manufacturing, IT services and business process outsourcing (BPO), communications, security, and application and infrastructure software.

During the period seven of PEI’s underlying portfolio companies undertook IPOs. These were:

Techwell (TCV IV): a fabless semiconductor company that designs, markets and sells mixed signal integrated circuits, for multiple digital video applications in the consumer, security surveillance and automotive markets, including advanced TVs, multifunction LCD monitors, DVD recorders, security surveillance systems and in-car LCD displays.

Targacept (NEA 10): a biopharmaceutical company engaged in the design, discovery and development of a new class of drugs to treat multiple diseases and disorders of the central nervous system by selectively targeting neuronal nicotinic receptors.

Novacea (NEA 10): a biopharmaceutical company focused on in-licensing, developing and commercialising novel therapies for the treatment of cancer.

Vonage (NEA 10): a leading provider of broadband telephone services utilising innovative Voice over Internet Protocol or VoIP.

DivX (Zone II): a consumer-focused, video technology company positioned at the centre of multimedia convergence. The company’s core offering is the DivX video codec, the world’s most popular MPEG-4 compatible video compression technology with over 100 million users worldwide.

CommVault Systems (Sprout IX): a company that provides a suite of software that helps to efficiently and reliably perform all aspects of data management – including archive, protection, recovery, remote office and disaster recovery, and storage resource management.

eHealth, Inc (Sprout IX): sells health insurance over the Internet to individuals, families, and small businesses. The company is licensed to sell in all 50 states and Washington, DC. eHealth has partnerships with some 140 health insurance carriers, enabling it to offer more than 5,000 products online – including health, dental, vision, term life, student health and short-term health insurance products.

Post Period Events

Private Equity Investor PLC (“PEI” or “the Company”) announces the formation of Campton Group Inc (“Campton”).

Campton has been established as a private equity fund of funds adviser to advise PEI on its existing portfolio, and to develop and grow a complementary private equity fund of funds management business. It has been formed in association with Allen Latta, formerly Director of Business Development and head of the US office of global private equity fund of funds manager VenCap International Plc.

Mr Latta, who will be based in San Francisco, has been appointed President and CEO of Campton. He has over 15 years of experience in venture capital, private equity, public offerings and mergers and acquisitions. Prior to joining VenCap, he was an Executive Director in the Telecommunications Investment Banking Group at Bear, Stearns & Co. and before that a Director in the Media and Telecommunications Group at CIBC World Markets. An MBA with honours from the Anderson School at UCLA, before his career in investment banking Mr Latta was an attorney specialising in corporate finance.

PEI intends to raise new capital which it will leverage through its existing relationships in the private equity field to invest over a period of years, in a spread of investment “vintages” and sectors. In addition, Campton and PEI will use their existing extensive contacts to develop new relationships with other high quality private equity managers with a view to making investments in their future funds.

PEI will initially make $1 million available to Campton and will own a 63% stake. Its holding will reduce to a minimum of 51% as Campton’s management team is built up. PEI may make further capital available to Campton to assist it in developing its fund raising and investment management activities.

Outlook and new Distribution Policy

In the third quarter of 2006, venture capitalists invested $6.2 billion in 797 deals, according to the MoneyTree Report. The investment level represented the third consecutive quarter over the six billion dollar mark and reflected continuing optimism within the industry.

PEI has made excellent progress over the last eighteen months as illustrated by the strong increase in the rate of distributions received from its underlying partnerships interests. This trend reflects the “maturing” of a number of the portfolio companies resulting in a number of liquidity events either as a result of companies undertaking Initial Public Offerings or receiving takeover offers. During the period from 30 June 2005 to the current time approximately $53.2 million has been received from distributions compared with $9.2 million in the previous eighteen month period. This increased level of portfolio activity is also reflected in the company’s net asset value which has risen by 46% from 30 June 2005 to 30 November this year or from $2.20 per share to $3.22 per share. It is expected that the trend of distribution levels should remain strong as the remaining investments held by its current venture funds continue to mature.

At present, PEI holds cash, liquid investments and receivables totalling $58 million compared with commitments of $30 million giving the Company an approximate net cash position of $28 million. During the coming year, PEI will seek ways to return cash to shareholders in a tax efficient manner. PEI is currently considering options for structuring and raising new fund products, including making commitments to successor funds to its existing portfolio holdings. It is envisaged that PEI will reserve $20 million of its existing liquid resources for these purposes and will seek ways to distribute amounts in excess of this, arising from its investment portfolio, to shareholders over time.

Peter Dicks, Chairman
19 December 2006

INCOME STATEMENT (UNAUDITED)

The total column of this statement is the profit and loss account of the Company. The supplementary revenue and capital return columns are both prepared under guidance published by the Association of Investment Companies.

All revenue and capital items in the above statement derive from continuing operations. No operations were acquired or discontinued in the period.

SUMMARISED BALANCE SHEET (UNAUDITED)

SUMMARISED STATEMENT OF CASH FLOWS (UNAUDITED)

The financial information contained in this report does not constitute full statutory accounts as
defined in Section 240 of the Companies Act 1985. The financial information for the six months ended 30 September 2006 and 30 September 2005 has not been audited.

The information for the year ended 31 March 2006 has been extracted from the latest published audited accounts. Those accounts have been filed with the Registrar of Companies and included the report of the auditors which was unqualified and did not contain a statement under Sections 237 (2) or (3) of the Companies Act 1985.