Crescent Capital Closes On Yakima Acquisition

Business Wire, August 21, 2001

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 21, 2001

Deal is Worth $91 Million

Crescent Capital Investments, Inc., closed today on the financing for the acquisition of Yakima Products, Inc. by WaterMark, the world's leading paddlesports company.

The deal is valued at $91 million.

In June 1998, Crescent affiliates acquired Perception Group, Inc. and Dagger Canoe Company. Management then merged the leading manufacturers of kayaks and canoes into one company under the WaterMark name.

Yakima Products is a leading manufacturer of sports-related racks and rack accessories for vehicles. The products include racks for bicycles and kayaks as well as new non-rack products such as child joggers, bicycle trailers, and snowshoes.

Crescent Capital President David Crosland said, "We are strong believers in the underlying growth prospects for the outdoor sporting goods industry and had identified Yakima as a target when we closed the WaterMark acquisition in 1998. We are very pleased to have the opportunity to provide the capital to fund this strategically important acquisition. Yakima is one of the premiere brands in the industry. With QS-9000 certified manufacturing capability, superb information systems and a world-class management team, Yakima is an ideal platform for further acquisitions in the outdoor sporting goods space."

WaterMark, of Easley, South Carolina, is the world's leading paddlesports company with the Perception, Dagger, Islander, Mainstream and Harmony lines. Arcata, California-based Yakima, the leading manufacturer of multisport car racks, has recently expanded their offerings to include cargo and child trailers for cyclists, as well as snowshoes, under their "Destination Hardware" initiative.

Other Crescent Capital transactions include: Caribou Coffee Company, Inc., the second leading non-franchised coffeehouse in the United States; Lee Industries, the number-one manufacturer of commercial paving equipment; DVT Corporation, a provider of technology-based machine vision systems; and MediFAX-EDI, a leading provider of health care information services.

Founded in 1997, Crescent Capital is the U.S. private equity arm of First Islamic Investment Bank, E.C., based in Bahrain. Crescent Capital and First Islamic seek $30 million to $150 million equity investment opportunities in profitable, high-growth companies. Since 1998, Crescent Capital has completed eight transactions valued at more than $650 million.