Boston, MA and Beverly Hills, CA -- March 6, 2006 -- Great Hill Partners announced that on December 1, 2005 it acquired a minority interest in Spark Networks, plc. Spark is a leading provider of online personals services in the United States and internationally. The Company's network of Web sites includes AmericanSingles.com and JDate.com, a leading online personals Web site amongst Jewish singles. Great Hill, which purchased 6 million shares in a private secondary transaction, is now the Company's leading shareholder.
Spark operates more than twenty-five online personals Web sites in the U.S. and internationally. Spark's sites enable adults to meet online and participate in a community, become friends, date, form a long-term relationship or marry through the many features on its sites, such as detailed profiles, onsite email centers, real-time chat rooms, and instant messaging services.
About Spark Networks, plc
Spark Networks plc's American Depositary Shares trade on the American Stock Exchange under the symbol "LOV" and its Global Depositary Shares trade on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange under the symbol "MHJG". The Spark Networks portfolio of consumer web sites includes, among others, JDate®.com (www.jdate.com), AmericanSingles®.com (www.americansingles.com), BlackSinglesConnection™.com (www.blacksinglesconnection.com) and ChristianMingle®.com (www.christianmingle.com). For more information, visit www.spark.net.
About Great Hill Partners
Great Hill Partners is a private equity firm that manages over $1.2 billion in capital and focuses on investments in growth companies operating in the business services, media, communications, information, education and IT sectors. Great Hill Partners targets equity investments of $20 million to $100 million. For more information, please visit www.greathillpartners.com.
