Berkshire Partners & TELAV Announce Merger With AVW; Form North America's Leading AV Equipment Rental and Service Company

    BOSTON--July 12, 2001--Berkshire Partners LLC ("Berkshire"), the Boston-based private equity investment firm, announced today a definitive merger agreement under which TELAV Inc. ("TELAV") will merge with AVW Audio Visual Inc. ("AVW"), an operating unit of The Freeman Companies to form North America's premier audio visual rental and presentation services company. The new entity, with annual revenues in excess of $185 million (U.S.), will have offices in 35 cities across Canada and the United States, 1,470 full time employees and will provide the foundation for geographic expansion and growth throughout North America. Berkshire Partners initially invested in TELAV in August, 1999.
    The merged company, to be known as AVW/TELAV, will be lead by Chief Executive Officer Robert Thiel. The new entity will have two operating divisions: AVW, which will continue to be led by Craig Smith as President, will focus its marketing and sales activities in the United States; while TELAV, with its three operating units - TELAV Audio Visual Services, CORPAV, and Videoscope, will continue to serve the Canadian market and will be headed by Harald Thiel as President. Each organization will continue to market itself under its existing brand names but will provide a seamless North American service delivery network to their customers through AVW/TELAV - The TOTAL SHOW AUDIO VISUAL COMPANY.
    "Our initial investment in TELAV was based on the company's leading market position in Canada, superior brand name, strong customer loyalty and reputation for excellent service," said Ross Jones, Managing Director at Berkshire Partners. "TELAV had begun the process of opening new offices in the U.S., but the merger of TELAV and AVW catapults the company forward. Through new branch openings in the U.S. and enhanced product and service offerings, AVW/TELAV is positioned to become the leading North American AV equipment rental and service company."
    TELAV has operations in 18 cities across Canada as well as in Seattle and Washington D.C. TELAV provides a broad range of high-quality, presentation technology solutions to the corporate, production and meetings market. ISTS, a TELAV division, is North America's recognized leader in the provision of simultaneous interpretation and multi-microphone discussion systems and related audio services for the conference market. AVW, with full-service offices in 11 cities across the United States, is the industry's recognized leader in the provision of audio visual support services to the association, meeting and trade show market.
    Robert Thiel, the new CEO of AVW/TELAV commented: " When two industry leaders such as AVW and TELAV, who believe in the same fundamental success formula of `Professional Personnel, Quality Equipment, and Service Second to None,' decide to merge, the synergies and customer benefits are very evident. Our mission will be to provide our clients with a unified, high quality, seamless service delivery network throughout North America with local access to professional personnel and the best presentation technology available."
    In addition to the increased local access, AVW/TELAV customers will benefit from a financially stable organization with a greatly expanded range of services. Complementing an already broad range of audiovisual, video and audio equipment, AVW/TELAV will now offer simultaneous interpretation, audience response systems, computer rental/networking services, webcasting, and multi-microphone discussion systems throughout its North American wide network.

    Founded in 1927, The Freeman Companies, AVW's parent company, is one of the leading full-service contractors in North America for expositions, conventions, corporate events, and exhibit programs. In 2000, Freeman produced 92 of the largest 200 trade shows held in the U.S. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company is a privately held corporation. Stock in the company is held by the Freeman family and more than 3,300 full-time employee owners through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan, which holds 39% of the company's stock.

    Berkshire Partners manages five investment funds with approximately $2 billion of capital for equity investments in a number of industries including business services, transportation, telecommunications, retailing, and growth manufacturing. Its private equity transactions have taken several forms: leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations, growth capital investments, privatizations, and industry consolidations. Investors consist primarily of university endowments, public and private pension funds, insurance companies, foundations, and financial institutions.