Hamilton E. James, president of The Blackstone Group, opens the conference with a keynote address presented in a "live" interview format that queries his views on the future of private equity. Noreen M. Culhane, executive vice president, Global Corporate Client Group of NYSE, delivers remarks at the luncheon.

"We are pleased to present an informative program that highlights the opportunities emerging in today's highly competitive private equity market for the third consecutive year," said Kevin Worth, president and CEO of The Deal LLC. "The Deal's Private Capital Symposium provides its audience with critical access to insights and knowledge from leaders within the private equity and hedge fund communities as our readers have come to expect from our award-winning print and online publications."

The Deal's Third Annual Private Capital Symposium attendees represent a cross-section of the alternative investment community, including private equity professionals, corporate venture capitalists, strategic investment and R&D managers, fund-of-funds managers, commercial bankers, institutional investors, investment bankers, M&A advisers, securitization specialists and venture capitalists.

Recognized industry figures from prestigious firms such as Texas Pacific Group, The Carlyle Group, Goldman Sachs, Apax Partners, Cerberus, Bear Stearns and Sun Capital will take part in panel discussions and present real-world case studies on new strategies and trends. Discussion topics include: trends and an outlook on the private equity industry, post-merger acquisition management and value creation, opportunity and challenges for buyouts in Asia & Europe, LBOs in the retail sector, the convergence of M&A, private capital and securitization and a discussion on how activist hedge funds are creating more deal opportunities.

A respected list of corporate sponsors include: Schulte, Roth, & Zabel LLP; Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal LLP; Winston & Strawn LLP; Cadwalader; Merrill Corporation; Fried, Frank, Harris, Shriver & Jacobson LLP; Heller Ehrman; PriceWaterhouseCoopers; NYSE Group and BBK, as gold sponsors; Navigant Consulting, Inc. as breakfast sponsor and Deutsche Bank as an exhibitor. The Symposium is endorsed by the New York Chapter of the Association of Corporate Growth.

The Deal's Third Annual Private Capital Symposium is just one of the many events The Deal is hosting in 2006. Upcoming events include: The Deal's Silicon Valley Summit on October 5 on the West Coast, The Deal and AVCJ's Asian M&A Forum on October 9-11 in Shanghai, The Deal's Second Annual M&A Outlook 2007 on November 14 in New York City and The Deal's Corporate Dealmakers Summit in November in New York City. For more information on these events, please contact Marc Richards at 212-313-9391.