European Capital Announces Refinancing of Portfolio Company Avery Weigh-Tronix and the Repayment of 18 Million Pounds Sterling of Preference Shares

St. Peter Port, Guernsey (ots/PRNewswire) -

European Capital Limited ("European Capital") (LSE: ECAS)
announced today that its portfolio company Avery Weigh-Tronix
Holdings Limited ("Avery") has completed the refinancing of 36
million pounds Sterling (euro 48 million) of senior credit facilities
with The Royal Bank of Scotland Plc and HSBC Bank Plc. The
refinancing follows the disposal of Avery's food retail weighing
business and will result in the repayment of 18 million pounds (euro
24 million) of European Capital's preference shares. Post completion
of the transaction, European Capital will continue to hold 10 million
pounds (euro 13 million) of loan notes and preference shares in Avery
as well as 61% of the common stock of the company.

"This represents the first significant realisation from the ten
European Capital One Stop Buyouts(TM) completed since inception in
2005 and as such is an important milestone in our development," said
Simon Henderson, Managing Director of European Capital Financial
Service Limited.

"This is a major event in our strategy to focus Avery
Weigh-Tronix as an industrial weighing solutions and services
provider. We look forward to continuing to support the company as it
concentrates on serving its long-standing industrial customers and
builds on its high quality product portfolio," said Giles Cheek,
Director of European Capital Financial Services Limited.

Avery is headquartered in Smethwick, UK with major operations and
manufacturing facilities in the UK, USA, Canada, Malaysia, India and
China. Avery's industrial products include weighbridges, platform or
deck scales, load cells, indicators and supporting software that
serve customers in a variety of end markets, including logistics and
transportation, food processing, waste management, agriculture and
general manufacturing. In addition, the company provides aftermarket
support services for its weighing products through one of the
industry's largest accredited service networks. The company employs
over 2,000 people worldwide.

For more information about European Capital's original investment
in Avery, please visit:
http://www.ecas.com/news/newsreleases/2006/pr20060801.html

ABOUT EUROPEAN CAPITAL

European Capital is a publicly traded investment company for
pan-European equity, mezzanine and senior debt investments with
capital resources of approximately euro 2.8 billion (US$4.1 billion).
It is managed by European Capital Financial Services (Guernsey)
Limited ("ECFSG" or "the Investment Manager"), a wholly-owned
affiliate of American Capital Strategies, Ltd ("American Capital").

European Capital invests in and sponsors management and employee
buyouts, invests in private equity buyouts and provides capital
directly to private and public companies headquartered predominantly
in Europe. European Capital generally invests between euro 5 million
and euro 500 million per transaction in equity, mezzanine debt and
senior debt to fund growth, acquisitions and recapitalisations.

The investment objective of European Capital is to provide
investors with dividend income and the potential for share value
appreciation by investing in debt and equity investments in private
and public companies headquartered primarily in Europe. European
Capital seeks to achieve this through pursuing the following types of
investments:

European Capital One Stop Buyouts(TM)

Through our One Stop Buyouts(TM), European Capital provides
equity, mezzanine debt and senior debt as the lead investor in the
buyout of private and public companies.

Mezzanine Direct with Sponsors

European Capital provides debt and equity financing for buyouts
sponsored by private equity firms where European Capital is either
the sole or lead mezzanine debt investor.

Syndicated Mezzanine and Senior Debt

European Capital provides mezzanine and senior financing for
buyouts sponsored by private equity firms where European Capital is
neither the sole nor lead mezzanine or senior debt investor.

Direct Investments

European Capital provides debt and equity financing directly to
private and public companies, which is used for growth, acquisitions
or recapitalisations, and investing in structured finance vehicles.

Companies interested in learning more about European Capital's
flexible financing should contact Simon Henderson or Nathalie Faure
Beaulieu at +44-(0)-20-7539-7000 in London, Jean Eichenlaub at
+33-(0)-1-40-68-06-66 in Paris, Robert von Finckenstein at
+49-(0)-69-71-71-297-0 in Frankfurt, or Luis Felipe Castellanos at
+34-91-423-27-60 in Madrid, or visit the website at
http://www.EuropeanCapital.com.

ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL

American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS), with US$19
billion in capital resources under management, is an affiliate of
European Capital and a member of the S&P 500. It is the largest U.S.
publicly traded private equity fund and one of the largest publicly
traded alternative asset managers. American Capital, both directly
and through its global asset management business, is an investor in
management and employee buyouts, private equity buyouts, and early
stage and mature private and public companies. American Capital
provides senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity to fund growth,
acquisitions, recapitalisations and securitisations. American Capital
and its affiliates invest from US$5 million to US$800 million per
company in North America and euro 5 million to euro 500 million per
company in Europe.

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The
statements regarding expected results of American Capital Strategies
are subject to various factors and uncertainties, including the
uncertainties associated with the timing of transaction closings,
changes in interest rates, availability of transactions, changes in
regional, national or international economic conditions, or changes
in the conditions of the industries in which American Capital has
made investments.

Web site: http://www.EuropeanCapital.com
http://www.americancapital.com

ots Originaltext: European Capital
Im Internet recherchierbar: http://www.presseportal.de

Contact:
Giles Cheek, European Capital Financial Services Limited,
+44-(0)-20-7539-7000; or Brian Maney, Director, Corporate
Communications of American Capital Strategies Ltd., +1-301-951-6122