Hi-Tech Rubber, Inc. Acquires Inland Technologies, Inc.
--Leading Medical Rubber and Plastic Molders Combine Strengths--
NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES (April 11, 2005) – Red Diamond Capital and Century Park Capital Partners, private equity firms based in New York and Los Angeles, respectively, jointly announced today the recent acquisition of Inland Technologies, Inc. by their portfolio company Hi-Tech Rubber, Inc. Inland, headquartered in Fontana, California, is a leading supplier of precision injection-molded plastic components and assembly services to the medical industry. Hi-Tech, located in Anaheim, California, manufactures custom-molded rubber components for medical and industrial customers.
The senior management team of Inland, led by former owners Glenn Crossno, president, and Gary Hengeveld, vice president, re-invested a significant portion of their proceeds from the sale of Inland into the combined company and will continue to lead Inland's strong growth in the future. Hi-Tech's senior executives, including Bill Sherman, president, and Jim Brown, executive vice president, invested additional equity alongside Red Diamond and Century Park to fund the Inland transaction and will continue to play key leadership roles in the combined company.
"We're all very excited about the combination of Hi-Tech and Inland," commented Mark Kammert, a managing director of Red Diamond Capital. "Inland serves a customer base in the medical sector that is very similar to that of Hi-Tech. In some cases, customers assemble Inland's injection-molded plastic parts together with Hi-Tech's precision molded rubber parts to create complete sub-assemblies or finished products. By joining forces, the two companies can now provide customers with an integrated engineering solution for plastic and rubber assemblies."
The Inland acquisition complements recent expansion moves by Hi-Tech. In late 2004, Hi-Tech acquired A.C. Hoffman Engineering, Inc., a precision rubber molder located in Riverside, California. In addition, Hi-Tech is currently completing the construction of a new 50,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Riverside. Bill Sherman, president of Hi-Tech, stated, "The acquisition of A.C. Hoffman offered Hi-Tech entrée to a dynamic new group of medical and industrial customers. Hoffman's talented employees and solid customer relationships will provide a strong foundation for expansion when Hi-Tech's new clean room molding facility opens in Riverside in June 2005. Together, the clean room molding and assembly strengths of Inland and Hi-Tech allow both companies to provide customers with a true 'one stop shopping' capability for elastomeric and plastic parts."
According to Chip Roellig, a partner of Century Park Capital, "Although the combined companies will have revenues of over $70 million this year, the growth of Hi-Tech and Inland is just beginning. We are evaluating other acquisitions, and we are exploring new manufacturing technologies that would permit us to offer additional products and services to our customers. Century Park and Red Diamond fully support the management team's growth initiatives."
Founded in 1982, Hi-Tech has grown steadily by focusing on complex, difficult-to-mold parts for critical customer applications. Hi-Tech's proprietary engineering expertise, efficient high volume production capabilities, competitive pricing and superior customer service have helped establish the company as a sole source supplier for over 80% of the components it manufactures.
Glenn Crossno and Gary Hengeveld founded Inland in 1992 as a full-service, custom injection molder focused on medical applications. Inland offers its customers an integrated approach to designing and manufacturing precision plastic injection-molded products and provides a full range of services, from product and tooling design to mold fabrication, plastic injection molding and assembly.
About Red Diamond Capital
Formed in 2002, Red Diamond Capital is an independent $150 million private equity fund that invests in middle-market distribution, manufacturing, service businesses in North America. With its committed capital provided primarily by Mitsubishi Corporation, Japan's leading trading company, through its U.S. subsidiary,Mitsubishi International Corporation, Red Diamond offers a unique mix of strategic resources, industry-focused capital and management expertise to fuel the growth of its portfolio companies.
About Century Park Capital Partners
Century Park Capital Partners is a committed private investment fund that specializes in making $10 million to $50 million long-term equity investments in profitable, growing companies with revenues ranging from $20 million to $200 million. Century Park most commonly invests in closely held, entrepreneurial companies or divisions or subsidiaries of larger companies. Century Park's fundamental investment approach is focused on developing solid relationships with experienced in-place management and entrepreneurs of profitable companies. Century Park provides capital, financial expertise and research to its portfolio companies to encourage long-term growth. Headquartered in Los Angeles, Century Park can be found on the web at www.cpclp.com.
