Press Release The Riverside Company Closes International Acquisition October 9, 2001 | New York, NY and Cleveland, OH. The recent drop in buyout activity to its lowest point since 1983 has some people worried that the buyout business is drying up. Not so for The Riverside Company, a private equity firm with offices in New York, Cleveland, Dallas and San Francisco, which recently closed a complex international acquisition involving ten companies in five countries. By adding Vienna, Austria-based Ceram Insulators to its portfolio and partnering its operations with existing investment Porcelain Products Co. (PPC), Riverside has created the second largest porcelain insulator manufacturer in the world and the largest outside of Asia. Riverside built this enterprise over a three-year period. In 1998, the firm purchased Carey, Ohio-based PPC as a new platform company. PPC is one of the nation's largest manufacturers of electrical porcelain insulators, which are used in overhead electrical utility distribution systems. In 1999, Riverside completed an add-on acquisition of Cooper Power's porcelain manufacturing facility in Macomb, Illinois, providing PPC a third manufacturing plant with significant capacity. Recently, a senior transaction team from Riverside flew to Vienna to finalize the acquisition of Ceram Insulators to combine with PPC. Europe's leading electrical porcelain insulator manufacturer, Ceram operates plants in Austria, France, Germany, Sweden and Slovakia. It also owns ten disparate companies that include three real estate holding firms, a technical ceramics manufacturer that produces wear-resistant ceramic parts ranging from valve plates for sanitary faucets to ballistic armor tiles, and a global trading company. The combined PPC-Ceram organization, which will be renamed The Insulator Company, will have total sales of $110 million and will employ more than 1,400 people in the U.S. and Europe. Its new headquarters will be located in Atlanta, Georgia. Customers of the combined entity include utilities, distributors and original equipment manufacturers worldwide, but primarily in the U.S. and Europe. "Ceram Insulators has the best technology in the world, and the U.S. is a huge, booming growth market for it," explained Andrew Strauss, Partner at The Riverside Company. "Among electrical porcelain manufacturers, PPC has the best distribution in the country, so it's a terrific match. PPC focuses on smaller porcelain for lower voltage applications, while Ceram focuses on higher voltage applications, making the products perfectly complementary." "Customers in the U.S. have been asking us for a greater commitment by having a base capable of local stocking and performing added-value work," said Vic Maundrell, who has been named Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the new organization and had been CEO of Ceram. "The approach by Riverside was welcomed by the Ceram Insulator team to achieve not only this presence but also to put us in an excellent position to supply other NAFTA countries. The combination of effective manufacturing, a well-developed U.S. distribution system, and a complementary product range achieved many of our ambitions in one." Electrical porcelain insulators are an essential component in the generation, transmission and distribution of electricity. They fall into the following four product categories: Hollow insulators, tube-like parts that function as power transformers, circuit breakers, instrument transformers or surge arrestors. Post insulators, which are used for support in a substation or utility equipment. Overhead transmission or distribution line insulators, which are commonly used on wood poles, steel towers, or underground systems to insulate the electrified wire from the rest of the structure. Railway insulators, which are used on electricity lines for electrical trains. The acquisition of Ceram is Riverside's ninth transaction by the firm's most recent private equity fund, the 2000 Riverside Capital Appreciation Fund, L.P. (RCAF 2000), which will have its final close shortly. Riverside invests in industry-leading companies at the smaller end of the middle market and is a buyout specialist in this niche, generally defined as companies valued between $10 million and $100 million. The firm is actively looking for additional investment opportunities in companies that are leaders within a wide variety of industries. Ceram Insulators supplies high quality insulator products and services to utilities, distributors and manufacturers of equipment produced for the global electrical infrastructure industry. The company is one of the world's leading multi-domestic suppliers of high voltage insulators, marketed by the group on an international basis. The seller, Frauenthal Keramik AG, is a publicly traded company in Austria. In addition to Ceram Insulators, Frauenthal Keramik participates actively in the development, production and marketing of catalysts for flue gas purification and other ceramic products using its own material and process technology. Porcelain Products Co. traces its roots to 1894 in Carey, Ohio, and has always been in the business of manufacturing porcelain insulators. With sales of $36 million, it is the second largest porcelain insulator manufacturer in the U.S. and the fifth largest in the world. The Riverside Company, a private equity firm with offices in New York, Cleveland, Dallas and San Francisco, is one of the nation's leading acquisition firms of industry-leading companies at the smaller end of the middle market. Since its inception in 1988, Riverside has invested more than $250 million in equity capital in 51 transactions, including 26 platform companies and 25 add-on acquisitions across a variety of industries. The firm has more than half a billion capital under management and has earned its investors realized gains of more than five times their original cash investments. In addition to four pre-1995 acquisitions, Riverside has brought to market The Riverside Capital Appreciation Funds of 1995, 1998 and 2000, attracting investors from pension funds, endowments, funds of funds, insurance companies and banks. For additional information please contact: Christine Croissant The Riverside Company 216-344-1180 | back | © Copyright 2008 The Riverside Company. 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