BOSTON, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Leading mattress manufacturer Spring Air has received $22 million in additional financing from H.I.G. Capital and American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS - News) in order to provide the company significant liquidity and growth capital to launch its exciting new 2008 product line.
In June 2007, H.I.G. Capital and American Capital together led the consolidation of Spring Air and its major licensees. Since the consolidation, the company has implemented a comprehensive plan to dramatically improve quality, service and value for its customers. Most importantly, the Company has developed a revolutionary product line, which was introduced this week at the Las Vegas Furniture Market, the largest bedding show in the nation.
At the show, Spring Air became the first in the industry to feature the "Power Coil," a specially designed 9 inch innerspring exclusively developed for one-sided mattresses. The "Power Coil" is comprised of three distinct coil zones and supplies the entire innerspring with heavier gauge wire in the center zone of the unit where the consumer needs the most support for proper spinal alignment. The top zone features conforming coils to provide comfort and to ease pressure points, the center zone provides extra support to relieve back pain, and the bottom zone provides stabilization and durability. In addition to the superior comfort features, the new innerspring design increases the profile of the innerspring unit from six to nine inches, creating greater durability and clearly demonstrating a focus on comfort and value to the consumer.
Since much of the less durable foam and upholstery have been replaced with a more durable tempered steel coil, the Power Coil design is far superior to a traditional innerspring mattress, eliminating body impressions and providing improved performance.
"This new capital will enable us to propel Spring Air forward, completing our integration and creating the appropriate level of capital to complete our new product launch," said Spring Air Chief Executive Officer Bob Hellyer. "We are grateful to our vendors and suppliers, real partners in business, for their patience and look forward to their on-going support of our continued growth. We are now poised to deliver on our strategic plan to make Spring Air the leading value "S" brand on every retail floor."
"H.I.G. Capital and American Capital are delivering this new infusion of capital because we believe that the strategy of Bob Hellyer and his management team is exactly the right formula for growth. The Company''''s new product line will provide unmatched quality and performance at value price points," said Peter Cornetta, a Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital and Spring Air''''s largest shareholder. "The industry is responding very well to Spring Air''''s initiatives and we are very pleased with the strides the company and its management team have made."
"We are very pleased to support Spring Air''''s growth initiatives," said Bowen Diehl, a Managing Director of American Capital. "The senior leadership team of the company has done a wonderful job integrating multiple independent companies into one unified organization, securing new distribution, and at the same time developing some exciting new products for the industry."
ABOUT SPRING AIR
Founded in 1926, The Spring Air Company is one of the world''''s largest mattress manufacturing and distribution companies. Its well-known consumer brands include: Back Supporter Classic and Four Seasons; Nature''''s Rest; and Chattam & Wells.
ABOUT H.I.G. CAPITAL
H.I.G. Capital is a leading global private equity investment firm with more than $4.5 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, and San Francisco in the U.S., as well as offices in London, Hamburg and Paris in Europe, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of profitable and well managed manufacturing or service businesses. Since its founding, H.I.G. has completed more than 75 transactions. The firm''''s current portfolio includes companies with combined revenues in excess of $7 billion. For more information, please refer to the H.I.G. website at www.higcapital.com.
ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL
American Capital is the only alternative asset management company in the S&P 500. With approximately $20 billion in capital resources under management (1), American Capital is the largest U.S. publicly traded private equity fund and one of the largest publicly traded alternative asset managers. American Capital, both directly and through its global asset management business, is an investor in management and employee buyouts, private equity buyouts, and early stage and mature private and public companies. American Capital provides senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity to fund growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations and securitizations. American Capital and its affiliates invest from $5 million to $800 million per company in North America and euro 5 million to euro 500 million per company in Europe.
As of December 31, 2007, American Capital shareholders have enjoyed a total return of 452% since the Company''''s IPO, an annualized return of 18%, assuming reinvestment of dividends. American Capital has paid a total of $2.1 billion in dividends and paid $26.16 dividends per share since going public in August 1997 at $15 per share.
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