Mesirow Financial Advises Precision Products Group in the Divestiture of its Michigan Spring & Stamping Division to Hines Corporation

CHICAGO, June 5, 2008 — Mesirow Financial, Inc. announced today that it acted as exclusive financial advisor to Precision Products Group, Inc. ("PPG") in the divestiture of its Michigan Spring & Stamping division to Hines Corporation ("Hines"), a private holding company for a diverse group of manufacturing companies, headquartered in Spring Lake, MI.

Based in Muskegon, MI, Michigan Spring & Stamping is a high-quality, niche manufacturer of customized springs and stampings. Despite the recent challenges in the automotive industry, Michigan Spring & Stamping has demonstrated consistent profitability with its innovative, patented product offerings.

Precision Products Group engaged Mesirow Financial and immediately initiated a dialogue with Hines Corporation and its Muskegon, MI-based subsidiary, American Coil Spring ("ACS"). Coupling the companies' complementary product offerings and customer bases, with the immediate geographic vicinity in which they operate, there was significant synergistic potential in a Michigan Spring/ACS combination. A deal was reached and quickly executed that delivered a premium valuation to the shareholders of PPG.

"Mesirow Financial played a critical role in identifying and quantifying the synergistic potential that could be reached through a combination of our operations." said Gerald Baker, CEO of Precision Products Group. "The Mesirow Financial team worked closely with Michigan Spring & Stamping and was integral in structuring a deal that delivered an exceptional valuation to our shareholders."

Jeffrey Golman, vice chairman at Mesirow Financial, commented "We had an excellent experience working with PPG's shareholders and management team. Michigan Spring has built an unparalleled reputation as one of the largest and most profitable spring manufacturers in the U.S. We are pleased to have helped achieve such a successful transaction for all parties involved."

Michigan Spring & Stamping is a manufacturer of springs & stampings with a variety of end market applications, such as automobiles, ATM machines, laser printers and lawn sprinklers. Michigan Spring & Stamping is one of the largest spring manufacturers in the United States, producing over 500 million springs per year.

Headquartered in College Park, Maryland, Precision Products Group is the parent company for a family of reputable, innovative manufacturers of value-added spiral-wound tubes and cores. PPG manufactures highly-customized offerings that are produced to extremely precise specifications for the insulation, packaging, consumer products and specialty/other end markets. Additional information can be found at www.ppgme.com.

American Coil Spring designs, engineers and manufactures a broad line of custom products including compression, extension, torsion, double torsion, constant force, garter and flat springs, small stampings, precision stampings, wireforms and other small assemblies for a variety of end markets. More information about American Coil Spring is available at www.americancoil.com.

Founded and controlled by Mr. Larry Hines, Hines Corporation operates as a private holding company for a family of industrial manufacturing companies. Hines operates seven related, yet distinct businesses and has a proven track record of creating value in manufacturing companies. The company's vision is to create strong partnerships with manufacturing companies by offering skilled and experienced management that inspires growth, maximizes profitability and assists each company to gain a competitive advantage within its respective industry. Additional information can be found at www.hinescorp.com.

Mesirow Financial is a diversified financial services firm headquartered in Chicago. Founded in 1937, it is an independent, employee-owned firm with $32.2 billion in assets under management and more than 1,100 employees in 30 locations across the country and in London. With expertise in Investment Management, Investment Services, Insurance Services, Investment Banking, Consulting and Real Estate, Mesirow Financial strives to meet the financial needs of institutions, public sector entities, corporations and individuals and was named one of Chicago's Best Places to Work by Crain's Chicago Business in 2008. For the fiscal year ended March 31, 2008, the firm posted $490 million in revenue (unaudited), with more than $245 million in capital. For more information about Mesirow Financial, visit its Web site at www.mesirowfinancial.com.

For more information, contact: Julie Liedtke, Mesirow Financial, 312-595-7902.

 

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