Key personnel

Piers Russell-Cobb

Piers founded MediaFund in 1991 and has advised hundreds of media owners and their managers on transactions.

Previously he was with Ansbacher Media, responsible for all stages of mergers and acquisitions of media properties in and across Europe.

Prior to that Piers was publisher of City Limits magazine; Deputy Chairman of Zwemmers; a writer on travel, media, food and drink; Course Director at the Borsenverein, in Frankfurt; Publicity and Promotions Director for Reed Books and International Marketing Manager with the illustrated book publisher Thames and Hudson. He has also taught in England, the US and India.

Piers is a regular commentator on media issues and has addressed several high level conferences and seminars.

e: PRC@mediafund.co.uk m: +44 (0)7768 992374

MediaFund also has access to a wide range of Associates with a wealth of experience across all the media industries who can be brought in to advise on sector specific projects. These experts include:

Gary Zabel

Gary Zabel has 35 years experience in the publishing industry, most recently as MD of Hollis Publishing and Wilmington's Media & Entertainment division.

Beginning his career in regional newspapers he joined Reed Business Information as Business Development Manager where he was responsible for several successful initiatives, including the launch of Reed Database for which he won the Reed Award for Excellence.

He went on to join business information publisher Hollis during the recession of the early 90s and steered it from a small family firm into a dynamic business exploiting its full potential. He launched and acquired several titles before leading a managment buy out in 2000 with Wilmington plc becoming the largest shareholder. Following another period of major growth Gary recruited a successor and exited at the end of 2006. Since then he has acted as a consultant, helping one client to win 2 major industry awards.

He is a former vice chairman and director of the Database Publishers Association and has hosted several industry seminars and conferences.

His expertise lies mainly in acquisition and disposal support, business development, marketing solutions, mentoring, competitive analysis, customer surveys, head hunting and general business support.

In his spare time he is a keen golfer!

e: gary.zabel@ntlworld.com m: +44 (0)7889 338131

David Lennon

An electronic publisher for over 20 years, David gained his experience with Thomson, the Financial Times, the German business newspaper Handelsblatt in Frankfurt, and LexisNexis, part of the Reed-Elsevier group.

Latterly his work has mainly been in M&A advisory, international market entry and penetration strategy and business process optimisation.

David is committed to information enablement, particularly to the integration of actionable information into workflow processes, and to the development and implementation of commercially viable publishing strategies via the internet.

An active participant in many industry forums and events in a variety of languages, he is also founding member of the Pub Club, a group of senior publishers and new media players, which addresses trends and developments in an informal setting.

e: david.lennon@ukonline.co.uk m: +44 (0)7880 505980

Pam Anson

Pam Anson has extensive mergers & acquisitions experience, and has acted as a financial and business strategy consultant to many small businesses. Pam had 13 years investment banking experience in UK and Australia with Hill Samuel and Macquarie Bank. She was Director of Corporate Development at the AIM-listed B2B publishing and media company, Huveaux PLC, completing 8 acquisitions.

More recently, Pam set-up and ran her own innovative pet-services business.

Pam is available on a project or part-time basis, to assist clients with M&A activities, such as evaluation of potential targets and buyers for disposals, preparation of strategic and financial analysis of transactions, co-ordination of due diligence and assistance with implementation. She can also assist with preparation of businesses for sale and acquisition integration. Pam is experienced at setting up financial/accounting systems and controls for private business-owners and can bring extensive experience in areas of financial management, banking relationships, investor relations, office management and other PLC Head Office activities.

Patrick Kelly

Patrick Kelly has 17 years' experience in journalism, publishing, corporate finance, and entrepreneurial ventures. He started his career as a financial journalist, writing for, among others, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Economist Group, Financial Times magazines, Liverpool Daily Post and Bridge News.

Following an MBA, he worked in telecoms, media and technology mergers & acquisitions for Bear Stearns investment bank, before launching in 2003 his own publishing business, London Sport. Over the next five years he raised venture capital to grow London Sport into the UK's largest monthly magazine for active people, reaching 300,000 each month through the magazine and website.

Patrick subsequently worked for a Luxembourg-registered hedge fund specialising in alternative finance for small and mid-cap companies where he was involved in all aspects of transactions, from preparing financial models, drafting term sheets, to negotiating fees and valuations.

A UK & US national, Patrick holds a BSc. from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service, and a Master's in Business Administration from IESE Business School in Barcelona.

e: patrick.kelly@mediafund.co.uk m: +44 (0) 7764 283276

Michael Zhang

Michael Zhang joined MediaFund in April 2009 as an associate.

Michael received a Bachelor's degree in Law from the London School of Economics in 2005 and a Master's degree in Law from The London School of Economics specializing in Law of Corporate Finance and International Business Law in 2006.

He previously worked at a hedge fund as an analyst. Prior to this Michael completed work placements in an international law firm, a top tier investment bank, and did a summer internship in a global telecommunications firm.

Michael speaks fluent Mandarin and basic Cantonese.

e: michael.zhang@mediafund.co.uk t: +44 (0) 208 9604967 m: +44 (0) 7595 263297