KPS Capital Partners Portfolio Company International Equipment Solutions, LLC Acquires Siac do Brasil Ltda. From SIAC S.p.A. And Its Affiliates

Announces Formation Of Alliance

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Jun 04, 2012, 10:21 ET

NEW YORK, June 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- KPS Capital Partners, LP ("KPS") today announced that its portfolio company International Equipment Solutions, LLC ("IES") has acquired, through an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary, Siac do Brasil Ltda. ("Siac do Brasil" or the "Company") from SIAC S.p.A. ("SIAC") and its affiliates. IES and SIAC also announced an alliance agreement whereby the parties would cooperate in the future. This is the third acquisition by IES since its formation. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

KPS formed IES in September 2011 as a platform for investments serving the construction, agriculture, landscaping, infrastructure, recycling, demolition, mining, and energy industries. At that time, KPS also announced IES's first two acquisitions, Paladin Brands Holding, Inc. and Crenlo LLC from Dover Corporation. In November 2011, Mr. Stephen Andrews was retained as Chief Executive Officer of IES to lead the integration of IES' first two acquisitions and to aggressively grow and globalize the company.

Siac do Brasil is the leading manufacturer of cab enclosures in Brazil. The Company also manufactures locomotive cabs as well as complex fabrications for off-highway machinery, and its customers include the world's leading original equipment manufacturers involved in the construction, infrastructure, mining, forestry and agriculture industries. SIAC is one of the largest global manufacturers of cab enclosures, with operations in Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia, Brazil and India.

Raquel Palmer, a Partner at KPS, said, "The launch of IES has exceeded all of our expectations. In a brief nine months, we have created the leading independent engineered equipment company in the Western Hemisphere, completing three highly synergistic acquisitions and successfully transforming a purely U.S. company into a global competitor. We are very excited about cooperating with SIAC. Together our companies will provide our customers with global manufacturing and service solutions. We look forward to continuing to aggressively grow IES through acquisitions around the world."

Steve Andrews, Chief Executive Officer of IES, said, "The acquisition of Siac do Brasil is a critical strategic step in the growth and globalization of IES. We are very impressed with the Company's rapid growth trajectory, customer base, quality and technical capabilities. The acquisition not only expands many of our current North American OEM supply partnerships into the Brazilian market, but further broadens our customer base as well. Additionally, the acquisition introduces IES as an important supplier in the rapidly growing Brazilian locomotive market. As demonstrated with this acquisition, IES will continue our commitment toward supporting our customer's global expansion initiatives with localized supply, technical resources and parts and service support. IES intends to invest significant additional capital and resources into Siac do Brasil to ensure the highest level of production quality for our customers and to increase capacity not only for cabs, but to support the growth of IES' attachment tools product lines in South America as well. IES has made tremendous progress in our first nine months and I believe our future is very bright."

Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison LLP and Machado, Meyer, Sendacz e Opice Advogados served as legal counsel to KPS and IES and its affiliates. Financing for the transaction was provided by a syndicate of institutional investors agented by Regiment Capital Advisors, LP and PNC Bank, National Association.

Emanuele Cortesi and Matteo Ghilatdi of Caffi-Maroncelli & Associati and De Luca Joao and Luis Rouz of DeLuca Derenusson, Schuttoff e Azevedo Advogados served as legal counsel to Siac S.p.A and Siac do Brasil.

About International Equipment Solutions, LLC

IES is a global engineered equipment platform serving the construction, agriculture, landscaping, infrastructure, recycling, demolition, mining, and energy markets. IES operates through six operating units, including Paladin, Genesis, Pengo and Jewell, all of whom are leading manufacturers of engineered attachment tools for operator driven equipment, Crenlo, a leading North American manufacturer of cab enclosures for operator-driven equipment as well as specialty electronic enclosures, and Siac do Brasil, the leading supplier of heavy equipment cab enclosures and locomotive sub-assemblies in the South American market. IES' customers include major OEMs, national rental fleet companies and hundreds of independent and OEM-aligned dealers. IES employs over 2,500 people and operates 15 manufacturing facilities in the United States, Germany, and Brazil.

About SIAC S.p.A.

Founded in 1966 and headquartered in Bergamo, Italy, SIAC S.p.A. is one of the largest global manufacturers of cab enclosures. In particular, SIAC S.p.A. specializes in the design and manufacture of driver units, complete cabs and components for earth moving and agricultural machinery and equipment. SIAC S.p.A. serves many of the world's leading original equipment manufacturers through operations based in Italy, Slovenia, Bosnia, Brazil and India. Leading manufacturers worldwide rely on SIAC as a global, strategic partner capable of meeting their needs in terms of innovation, reliability, and quality.

About KPS Capital Partners, LP

KPS Capital Partners, LP is the manager of the KPS Special Situations Funds, a family of private equity funds with over $2.8 billion of assets under management focused on constructive investing in corporate carve-outs, restructurings and other special situations. KPS has executed highly complex corporate carve-out transactions on a global basis, and has acquired businesses from numerous Global Fortune 500 companies. The KPS investment strategy targets manufacturing and industrial companies with strong market positions that are going through a period of transition or experiencing operating or financial difficulties. For nearly two decades, the partners of KPS have worked with the management teams and associates of its portfolio companies to improve operating and financial performance by focusing on cost reduction, efficiency, operational excellence and strategic growth initiatives. KPS Portfolio Companies have aggregate annual revenues of $6.2 billion, operate 90 manufacturing plants in 24 countries, and employ over 29,000 associates, directly and through joint ventures worldwide. The KPS investment strategy and portfolio companies are described in detail at the firm's website: www.kpsfund.com.

SOURCE KPS Capital Partners, LP