Acquisition of Quester

NewMedia SPARK PLC
14 May 2007


For Immediate Release                                           14th May 2007


                          NewMedia SPARK plc ('SPARK')

Acquisition of Quester's early stage Technology and Life Science Fund Management 
Business with £200 million under management

Deal Terms

NewMedia SPARK plc (AIM: NMS), the technology venture capital company, is pleased 
to announce that it has agreed to purchase the entire issued share capital of Querist 
Limited ('Querist''), the parent company of the Quester group of companies 
('Quester'), an established manager of venture capital funds for early-stage 
Technology and Life Sciences.

The Deal

• The initial consideration for the acquisition of £4 million will be satisfied 
  in cash on completion, with a maximum deferred consideration of £1 million paid 
  over two years, subject to revenue targets being met.

• A further cash amount (estimated to be approximately £0.4 million) will be 
  payable on agreement of a Completion balance sheet in respect of surplus net assets 
  acquired by SPARK.

Quester

Quester manages funds of over £200 million in the form of the Quester VCT's, 
Quester Venture Partners and several University Technology Transfer funds, £175 
million of which are on long-term or rolling contracts.  It has links with 
leading UK Universities, including the Oxford University Colleges.  Across the 
funds there are 49 investments made between 1996 and 2007, of which approximately 
one third are in Life Sciences and two thirds in Technology.  In the year 
ended 31 March 2007, Quester had an unaudited consolidated turnover of £5.1 million 
and profit of £0.1 million after deducting £1.4 million of non-recurring expenditure.   
At 31 March 2007, Quester had unaudited consolidated net assets of £0.4 million.

Rationale

The Board believes that the acquisition will allow SPARK to deliver enhanced 
long-term returns for shareholders by expanding significantly its funds under 
management and providing a platform for managing additional funds from a number 
of sources in future.  The increase in the scale of its operations will generate 
substantial efficiency improvements, create a wider spread of investments for 
co-investing SPARK shareholder funds, and provide greater access to the UK's 
best early-stage entrepreneurs, investment managers and University intellectual 
property - benefits which will also be shared by the investors in Quester funds. 
Together, the combined group will manage over £275 million of funds, of 
which over 63% are evergreen (open ended funds).

Andrew Carruthers, Chief Executive of SPARK, commented:

'We are delighted to be able to make this significant move in building upon our 
position in the investment community as one of the leading early-stage European 
venture investors by welcoming the Quester team.  SPARK has demonstrated strong 
growth in net assets and a number of successful exits recently, after the difficult 
post-dotcom years. We have co-invested with Quester a number of times over that 
period and see them as one of only a few high quality participants in our sector.  
We plan to use this combined platform to build further funds under management and 
deliver long-term growth in shareholder value'

Enquiries:

NewMedia SPARK plc
Andrew Carruthers 020 7851 7777
Collins Stewart Europe Limited
Seema Paterson 020 7523 8321
Buchanan Communications
Isabel Podda 020 7466 5000

About SPARK

NewMedia SPARK is a quoted venture capital organisation based in central London
focused on early stage investments in the technology, media and telecoms
sectors. SPARK's portfolio has a particular emphasis on digital media, software
applications, technology and communications. As an investor, SPARK expects to
add significant value to its investments through active support and strategic
direction. SPARK has been listed on London's Alternative Investment Market since
1999.

Recent successful exits for SPARK include the sale of Mergermarket to Pearson
for £120 million, the sale of Footfall to Experian for £36 million and the sale
of Elata to Qualcomm for $ 57million.

Further information is available at www.newmediaspark.com

About Quester
Quester is one of the UK's leading venture capital companies and has been
providing equity for growing technology companies for more than 20 years. It
manages over £200 million on behalf of major institutional investors, leading UK
universities, and three quoted venture capital trusts. Quester invests in the
best technology to create world-leading businesses in the software, electronics
and life sciences sectors. As well as capital, it brings a wealth of experience
of developing high growth companies from early stage through IPO or trade sale.

Quester's passion is building great companies from small beginnings: its
experience blends ambition with the strategic, financial and commercial skills
to enable it to maximise returns, both for investors and for portfolio
companies.

Further information is available at www.quester.co.uk




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange