Golden Gate Capital and Moulin International to Acquire Eye Care Centers of America

Business Wire, Dec 2, 2004

SAN FRANCISCO -- Golden Gate Capital announced today the signing of a definitive agreement to acquire Eye Care Centers of America, Inc (ECCA), the second largest U.S. optical retail chain, in partnership with Moulin International Holdings Limited and ECCA management for $450 million. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory and other approvals, is expected to close in the first quarter of 2005.

Founded in 1984, ECCA is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas and operates 378 retail stores in 33 states offering quality eyewear and vision care for its customers. The newly formed independent company will retain the ECCA name and its current management team, led by chairman and chief executive officer David E. McComas.

Moulin International, a leading global integrated manufacturer and distributor of eyewear, brings significant production and distribution assets to the partnership. With Moulin, ECCA will become a vertically integrated player, allowing it to respond more quickly to market dynamics, as well as reduce sourcing costs.

"We are excited to partner with Moulin and the ECCA management team, and look forward to working with them to continue pursuing growth opportunities," said Jesse Rogers, a Managing Director of Golden Gate Capital. "ECCA's management has a history of offering customers high-quality eyewear at an excellent value, and we think the partnership with Moulin will enable them to enhance their unique value proposition."

David E. McComas, Chairman and CEO of Eye Care Centers, said, "We look forward to working closely with Moulin and Golden Gate Capital on the implementation of the next phase of our growth strategy."

Cary Ma, CEO of Moulin, said, "We believe that this acquisition combines the optical industry's most powerful value chain with the US retail market's leading value proposition, and we are very excited about the Group's growth potential going forward."

About Eye Care Centers of America, Inc.

With 378 stores in 33 states, Eye Care Centers of America, Inc. is the second largest retail optical chain in the U.S. The company's brand names include EyeMasters, Binyon's, Visionworks, Hour Eyes, Dr. Bizer's VisionWorld, Dr. Bizer's ValueVision, Doctor's ValuVision, Stein Optical, Vision World, Doctor's VisionWorks, and Eye DRx. Founded in 1984, the company is headquartered in San Antonio, Texas.

About Golden Gate Capital

Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with approximately $2.5 billion of capital under management. Golden Gate is dedicated to partnering with world class management teams to invest in change-intensive, growth businesses. They target investments of up to $100 million in situations where there is a demonstrable opportunity to significantly enhance a company's value. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing with management partners across a wide rage of industries and transaction types, including leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, corporate divestitures and spin-offs, build-ups and venture stage investing. For more information, please visit www.goldengatecap.com.

About Moulin International Holdings Limited

Moulin is engaged in the design, manufacture, distribution and retail of quality eyewear products to customers worldwide. The Group consists of a comprehensive global distribution network operating in over seventy countries worldwide, driven by major market subsidiaries in Europe, the United States and the Asia Pacific region. Moulin is the largest eyewear manufacturer in Asia and the third largest worldwide, with production volumes exceeding fifteen million frames per year. Founded in 1960, Moulin is headquartered in Hong Kong and is one of the constituent stocks on the Hang Seng HK SmallCap Index and Hang Seng Consumer Goods Index under the Hang Seng Composite Index. For more information, please visit www.moulin.com.hk.