Acquisition(s)

Alliance Trust PLC

Alliance Trust PLC announces the completion today of the acquisition of the
privately owned company Albany Venture Managers (Holdings) Ltd. The gross
assets represented by this transaction amount to approximately £548,000, based
on Albany's most recent audited accounts.

The associated Press release follows:

22 November 2006

For immediate release

ALLIANCE TRUST ACQUIRES VENTURE CAPITAL COMPANY ADDING PRIVATE EQUITY EXPERTISE
TO ITS INVESTMENT TEAM

Alliance Trust PLC, the largest generalist investment trust company listed on
the London Stock Exchange, has acquired venture capital investment company
Albany Ventures in a move that will broaden the company's investment expertise
by bringing on board a highly experienced private equity team.

Alliance Trust announced it has bought 100% of the shareholding of Albany
Venture Managers (Holdings) Ltd, a respected six-year-old group that runs three
venture capital funds with committed equity of £25m. As part of the deal,
Albany Ventures' two senior investment managers and main shareholders, Raymond
Abbott and John Morrison, will join Alliance Trust to form the core of the
Alliance Trust's new private equity team. The new private equity team will
report to Alliance Trust's incoming Chief Investment Officer.

Alliance Trust Chief Executive Alan Harden said, "This acquisition exactly
meets our requirements to continue extending our investment expertise across
asset classes to manage risk and generate enhanced returns through different
market cycles. We fully expect private equity to be an important part of our
future investment portfolio and now we are starting to build the skills to
enable this to happen. Albany Ventures was a natural choice since we have been
working with their team since 2002 and have seen at first hand their deep
understanding of the market, clear vision and risk management skills."

"Adding Albany Ventures to our group means we have taken a large step to create
a private equity team. We are not only acquiring a well-run business but a team
that can hit the ground running and examine new private equity opportunities
for the company. Since Albany Ventures already has an FSA licence to run
private equity funds, Alliance Trust can now look for opportunities to manage
private equity assets for third parties, creating greater value for its
shareholders from its investment skills."

Raymond Abbott, Managing Director of Albany Ventures said, "We are delighted
that Albany Ventures is becoming part of Alliance Trust, a long-standing
partner in one of our funds. This is really exciting for us because with
Alliance Trust's broad remit we can build far beyond our funds' current focus
on early stage technology and life science investments to take advantage of
private equity opportunities in any sector. Also, working within a £2.7bn
company means we can focus all our efforts on what we do best -- finding really
interesting new ideas and companies with real long-term potential."

Apart from forming the core of Alliance Trust's private equity team, Abbott and
Morrison, who were two of the co-founders of Albany Ventures, will continue to
run the three Albany Ventures funds, two of which are relatively mature.
Alliance Trust is an investor in Albany Ventures Fund III, which the Albany
team will continue to manage.

Alliance Trust currently has around £70m invested in private equity, only 3% of
its total £2.7bn portfolio, but its strategy is to increase exposure to asset
classes other than quoted equities. For instance, it has built up a property
portfolio since November last year, worth around £65m.

Albany Ventures was founded in July 2000 when Abbott, Morrison and Iain
Christie joined forces in a venture to manage early stage venture capital
investments. Both Abbott and Morrison previously worked at British Linen Equity
and Friends Ivory & Sime Private Equity. Abbott has 15 years in private equity
investments and Morrison 10 years.

Contacts                                                                        
                                                                                
Jane Holligan, Media Relations         Richard Winder / Anna Schirmer           
Manager                                                                         
                                                                                
Alliance Trust PLC                     Lansons Communications                   
                                                                                
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