H.I.G. Capital Raises $250 Million Venture Capital FundTO INVEST IN EARLY STAGE TECHNOLOGY COMPANIES IN THE SOUTHEAST

MIAMI – January 17, 2000 – H.I.G. Capital, a private equity firm based in Miami, Florida announced today the closing of H.I.G. Ventures, a venture capital fund aimed at investing in emerging high growth companies in the Communications, Internet, and Information Technology sectors.

H.I.G. Ventures, with $250 Million of funding available, will primarily target companies based in the Southeast United States, including Florida, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, making it the largest venture capital fund in the Southeast.

Sami Mnaymneh and Tony Tamer, Managing Partners of H.I.G., noted that H.I.G. Ventures was formed in response to a clear shortage of available growth equity capital in the Southeast to fund promising entrepreneurs and early stage companies in the region.

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.

H.I.G. Capital’s investor base includes Goldman Sachs, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette (DLJ), Deutsche Bank Alex Brown, Wilshire Associates, First Union Corporation, PNC Bank, and Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association (TIAA).