Vestar Capital Partners Names Patrick Shattenkirk Head of Investor Relations

Vestar Capital Partners, a leading international private equity
firm, announced today that Patrick Shattenkirk has joined the firm as
a Managing Director and Head of Investor Relations. In this newly
created role, Mr. Shattenkirk will be responsible for coordinating
communication between Vestar and its investors. Mr. Shattenkirk will
begin his new role immediately.

Mr. Shattenkirk has more than 25 years of experience in the
financial services industry and was formerly a Managing Director at
Cogent Partners, L.P, an investment bank specializing in liquidity
advisory services for institutional private equity investors.

Daniel S. O'Connell, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Vestar
said, "We are delighted to welcome Patrick to the Vestar team. His
extensive experience and proven leadership skills will be an
invaluable resource and will strengthen our continued commitment to
our investors."

About Patrick Shattenkirk

Mr. Shattenkirk has a long history in the financial services
industry that dates back to 1978. He has been involved in commercial
banking at Chemical Bank, institutional fixed income sales at Morgan
Stanley, private equity placement at Deutsche bank and most recently,
liquidity advisory work at Cogent Partners.

Mr. Shattenkirk received an AB in Economics from Brown University
in 1978 and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School in 1982. Mr.
Shattenkirk and his wife Barbara live in New Rochelle, NY with two of
their three sons.

About Vestar

Vestar Capital Partners is a leading international private equity
firm specializing in management buyouts and growth capital
investments. Vestar's investment strategy is targeted towards
companies in the U.S., Europe and Japan with valuations in the $100
million to $5 billion range. Since the firm's founding in 1988, Vestar
has completed over 50 investments in the U.S. and Europe in companies
with a total value of approximately $17 billion. These companies have
varied in size and geography and span a broad range of industries. The
firm's strategy is to invest behind management teams, family owners or
corporations in a creative, flexible and entrepreneurial way with the
overriding goal to build long-term franchise value. Vestar currently
manages funds totaling approximately $7 billion and has offices in New
York City, Denver, Boston, Paris, Milan and Tokyo. More information
about Vestar is available at http://www.vestarcapital.com