Headwaters MB Taps Local, National Players for Board of Directors; Board Depth Extends National Network of Denver-based Merchant Bank

Business Wire, Jan 22, 2002

Business Editors

DENVER--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 22, 2002

Headwaters MB, LLC, a Denver-based merchant bank focused on middle market companies, today announced the formation of the bank's board of directors.

The three outside members of the board include one of the nation's leading agribusiness entrepreneurs, Marcus B. Peperzak; one of the deans of Denver's venture capital community, G. Jackson Tankersley III; and retired Goldman Sachs & Company partner, Lawrence R. Buchalter. Headwaters MB co-founders David S. Maney and Phillip W. Seefried, Jr. hold the final two seats of the five-member board.

"We're fanatical about building a financial services company of tremendous value to our clients and our investors," said Seefried, "and what a privilege to have such extraordinary businesspeople suiting up with us as directors to help us do it."

Headwaters MB provides investment banking services to middle market companies, which it defines as those having a total enterprise value of between $10 million and $300 million. It is also raising an equity fund that will enable it to back client companies with capital as well as services.

Seefried pointed out that the board was deliberately drawn from the three disciplines with which Headwaters MB most frequently interfaces. "We work closely with the private equity world, and Jack Tankersley is one of the superstars of that business. We share leads and deals with larger Wall Street firms on a regular basis, and having Larry Buchalter's experience and contacts gives us outsized presence there. And Marc Peperzak is the very embodiment of successful entrepreneurialism, which forms the backbone of our client base."

Peperzak said the newly constituted board is another step in setting Headwaters MB apart from regional investment banking boutiques. "There is a very consistent effort there to create and strengthen a national network of capital sources and potential company buyers. That kind of reach and exposure is a huge advantage for a selling company's shareholders, or for a firm that's raising new capital. I'm genuinely impressed with what Headwaters MB is becoming, and I'm very glad I was asked to contribute to it."

Background on Headwaters MB Board of Directors

Peperzak is the CEO, founder and majority owner of Aurora Dairy Group, one of the nation's largest production dairies with large-scale operations in four states. Peperzak was also a co-founder and former Chairman of Horizon Organic Dairy (Nasdaq: HCOW), the nation's leading marketer of organic dairy products. He has significant international business experience, having helped create major agribusiness operations in Oman, Pakistan, Iran and Mexico. Peperzak has served on numerous corporate boards in the agribusiness, finance, insurance, and retail industries. He was a longtime member of YPO International in the Idaho and Rocky Mountain chapters, and also a founding member of the organization's Colorado chapter. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley with combined degrees in business and engineering and Harvard Business School's Agribusiness Executive Program.

Tankersley is the Managing General Partner of Meritage Private Equity Funds, and is one of the most experienced private equity investors in the communications industry. Tankersley began his career at the Continental Illinois Bank in 1974 and joined its venture capital subsidiary in 1978. He co-founded The Centennial Funds in 1981 and served as its chief executive officer or chief investment officer until 1997. He founded Meritage Private Equity in 1998, and currently manages a portfolio of more than $440 MM in committed capital. He currently serves on the boards of directors of InFlow, Inc., Ecrix Corporation and Masergy Communications, all Meritage portfolio companies. Tankersley is an honors graduate of Denison University and the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.

Buchalter retired from Goldman Sachs & Company earlier this year. As head of High Yield Capital Markets and Underwriting at the company, he grew his group's revenues more than 300% in four years, to more than a quarter billion dollars. He helped move Goldman's high yield underwriting ranking from fifth to second in the same short period. Buchalter later headed Goldman's Electronic Commerce and Fixed Income Currency and Commodities Division, and then was selected as CEO of a Goldman/Merrill Lynch joint venture that created the nation's first electronic bond exchange for institutional investors and securities dealers. He is a graduate of the University of Delaware and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

About Headwaters MB

Headwaters MB is a middle market merchant bank based in Denver, Colorado. It provides its client companies with investment banking functions, including merger and acquisition services, capital formation services, and financial advisory services. It is raising an affiliated equity fund, Rio Grande Investment Partners LP, of which Headwaters MB, LLC is the general partner. The firm's professional team is a combination of successful entrepreneurs, investment bankers, and operating executives, which allows the bank to bring real insight and value creation to every assignment it takes on. To learn more about Headwaters MB, visit their website at www.headwatersmb.com or contact the firm directly at 303/572-6000.