AXA Private Equity Acquires US$1.7 Billion Private Equity Portfolio from Citigroup

AXA Private Equity, the leading European diversified private equity firm, announces it has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement with Citigroup (NYSE: C) for the acquisition of a US$1.7 billion portfolio of limited partnership interests in private equity buyout funds and a portfolio of direct stakes in companies. This deal represents one of the largest ever secondary private equity transactions and confirms AXA Private Equity's world leadership in secondary Funds of Funds.

The portfolio sold by Citi Holdings comprises 207 limited partnership interests in mostly buyout and a number of investments that were made directly into certain companies. The portfolio was funded by Citigroup proprietary capital and does not include funds or investments managed by Citi Capital Advisors. The transaction also does not impact client or employee funds managed or formerly managed by Citi.

Following on from AXA Private Equity's US$1.9 billion acquisition of private equity funds from Bank of America in April 2010, this transaction continues the firm's secondary funds strategy to offer liquidity to large institutions looking to monetize their private equity investments.

Dominique Senequier, Chief Executive Officer of AXA Private Equity, said: "This is the culmination of a highly collaborative and close working relationship with Citigroup. Because of our approach, combined with our proprietary database, we were able to offer a global solution to Citi. The excellent visibility of the quality of the assets enabled us to offer a fair price."

"This sale marks the completion of a significant share of Citi Holdings’ proprietary private equity investments and demonstrates the progress the Citi Holdings team is making in reducing non-core assets on our balance sheet," said Mark Mason, Chief Operating Officer of Citi Holdings. "Citi remains focused on directing resources to our core franchise to generate long-term growth opportunities."

Vincent Gombault, Member of the Board and Managing Director Funds of Funds at AXA Private Equity added: "Having an international team with global reach, combined with a diversified buyout interests portfolio gives us excellent perspective on pricing and quality, allowing us to be opportunistic on behalf of our investors. The Citigroup assets are some of the best-managed funds offering strong potential in terms of value creation."

ABOUT AXA PRIVATE EQUITY

AXA Private Equity is a global leader in private equity with $25 billion of assets under management or advice in Europe, North America and Asia. The company offers its investors the full spectrum of asset classes through a wide choice of funds: funds of funds (primary, early secondary and secondary); direct funds, including infrastructure financing, mid-cap and small-cap LBOs, venture capital and co-investments; and mezzanine financing.

With offices in Paris, Frankfurt, New York, Singapore, Milan, London, Zurich and Vienna, AXA Private Equity supports the long-term growth of companies by giving them access to its international network. AXA Private Equity is proud to provide its investors with regular, high-quality reports on the performance of its funds and those of its portfolio companies.

AXA Private Equity, Global Investments the European way
www.axaprivateequity.com

ABOUT CITI

Citi, the leading global financial services company, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management. Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com.