H.I.G. Capital Announces Opening of San Francisco Office Plans to Increase Investment Activity on West Coast

San Francisco, CA – June 9, 2003 – H.I.G. Capital LLC, the Miami-based private equity firm, today announced the opening of its San Francisco office as part of an overall strategy to significantly increase its investment activity across the western United States.

Founded in 1993, H.I.G. currently manages over $1.2 billion of equity capital, including a $450 million buyout fund, H.I.G. Capital Partners III, raised in 2002. With offices in Miami, Atlanta, Boston, and now San Francisco, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. Through its Opportunity Fund, H.I.G. has also been an active investor in restructurings and turnaround transactions. Since its founding, H.I.G. has made more than fifty highly successful investments, acquiring companies with combined revenues in excess of $5 billion. Investors in H.I.G.’s most recent fund include Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Credit Suisse First Boston (CSFB), Wilshire Associates, Yale University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Teachers Insurance and Annuity (TIAA), Allianz AG, Liberty Mutual, JP Morgan Chase, and Verizon Communications.

Thomas Ley has joined H.I.G. as a Managing Director to spearhead the Firm’s west coast expansion. Tom brings over twenty years of middle market private equity and mergers and acquisitions experience and, most recently, spent ten years as Managing Director running the San Francisco office of Lincolnshire Management, Inc. Rounding out the San Francisco office leadership are Steve Martinez, a veteran of the H.I.G.’s Miami office, and Neil Tuch, formerly of Summit Partners’ Palo Alto office. Commenting on the office’s senior team, Tony Tamer, co-founder and Managing Partner of H.I.G. commented, “We have assembled a highly talented west coast investment team with the relationships, track record and execution experience to be a market leader.”

The San Francisco office is focused on investing in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of well-established, profitable, and well-managed manufacturing and service businesses. H.I.G. co-founder and Managing Partner Sami Mnaymneh noted, “We will continue to focus on transactions that fall within our area of expertise: family-owned companies exploring a sale as part of their estate planning; entrepreneurs wishing to monetize and diversify their net worth; and managers looking for a financial partner to help them buy a business.” Tom Ley added, “H.I.G. has created an extraordinary track record of successful investments in the middle market and has stood out as one of the most active investors in recent years. We believe there are a large number of companies across the western United States that fit our investment strategy and that many of these companies will find H.I.G. to be an ideal partner.”

H.I.G. Capital is a leading private equity and venture capital investment firm with more than $1.5 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, Florida, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, and San Francisco, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of well-established, profitable, and well-managed manufacturing or service businesses, and in promising early-stage technology companies. Since its founding, H.I.G. has made more than fifty highly successful investments, acquiring companies with combined revenues in excess of $5 billion.