Consortium of investors

Permira
Permira, one of the largest private equity specialists in Europe, is an independent entity, owned and controlled by its partners. In 1997, the company raised Europe's first billion dollar private equity fund, Permira Europe I. In May 2000, Permira Europe II was raised - a 3.5 billion euro fund, which is already one third invested. The firm's team of 60, based in Frankfurt, London, Milan and Paris, advise these and other funds with a total committed capital of over 6 billion euros. Since 1985, the Permira funds have completed more than 250 transactions. One of the largest recent transactions - alongside Cognis - was the acquisition of Veba Electronics from E.ON AG.

GS Capital Partners
The GS Capital Partners family of funds is managed by the private equity arm of Goldman Sachs, one fo the world's oldest investment banking and securities firms, which was founded in the USA as far back as 1869. Today, Goldman Sachs has over 22,000 employees world wide, 365 of whom are in Frankfurt, and the company has been listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1999. GS Capital Partners has invested approximately 11 billion U.S. dollars in some 500 companies and currently comprises a global team of 112 dedicated professionals - 32 of them in Europe. In July 2000, the group raised its latest global fund, GS Capital Partners 2000, amounting to 5.25 billion U.S. dollars, from which the money came to invest in Cognis. Employees of Goldman Sachs themselves contributed approximately 20 percent to this fund. The GS Capital Partners family today has a highly diversified global portfolio. Notable investments include Wincor Nixdorf, Polo Ralph Lauren, Orion Power and Kookmin Bank. One of the latest projects has been the joint acquisition - together with Allianz Capital Partners - of Messer Griesheim from Aventis.

SV Life Sciences
As the name indicates, SV Life Sciences was established in 1995 to take advantage of the global nature of the life sciences opportunity. The nature-based and consumer-oriented innovative power of Cognis therefore fits well with its portfolio. The firm currently advises two private equity funds and a publicly quoted investment trust. Funds advised by SV Life Sciences are able to invest in all stages in the development of a life science company.