Behrman Capital Names Lawrence Deering Operating Partner; Will Focus on Health Care Portfolio and New Opportunities.

NEW YORK & SAN FRANCISCO -- Behrman Capital, a private equity investment firm based in New York and San Francisco, announced today that Lawrence Deering has been named an Operating Partner of the firm. In that role, he will provide assistance to Behrman Capital in overseeing its existing portfolio of health care companies and in identifying potential new investment opportunities in the health care services sector.

Mr. Deering, 49, most recently served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Tandem Health Care, Inc., a provider of post-acute health care services. Behrman Capital, which initially invested in Tandem in 1998, announced in July that it had sold the company to a consortium of JER Partners and Formation Capital, LLC in a transaction valued at $620 million.

"We are very pleased to add Larry Deering to Behrman Capital's outstanding roster of Operating Partners," said Grant G. Behrman, Managing Partner of Behrman Capital. "Larry's success in building Tandem Health Care into one of the leading providers of long-term care in the country is an indication of his tremendous management skills and industry knowledge. In the eight years since our initial investment, Behrman Capital worked closely with Larry and Tandem's management to grow the business -- both organically and through more than a dozen successful acquisitions. By pursuing a tightly focused strategy of providing high quality, cost effective health care services while sustaining a strong competitive position in regional markets, the company's annual revenue grew from $25 million at the time of our investment to approximately $600 million today."

In addition to his positions at Tandem, Mr. Deering has served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Mariner Health, a $700 million publicly held post-acute care provider based in New London, CT; President and Chief Executive Officer of Legend Medical Services, Inc., a venture capital backed long-term care company; Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Meritcare, Inc., a long-term care company in Pittsburgh, PA; and Regional Vice President for Summit Health, Ltd., an operator of long-term care facilities.

He is a graduate of California State University, Dominguez Hills.

Mr. Deering said, "For the past eight years, I have witnessed first-hand Behrman Capital's ability to build value in their portfolio companies and for their limited partners, and I am very pleased to have this opportunity to continue working with the firm, now as an Operating Partner. I look forward to helping the firm continue to create value from the health care companies in its existing portfolio and to pursuing new investment opportunities in the health care services sector."

Mr. Deering is Behrman Capital's sixth operating partner. The firm's other operating partners are: Paul Block, personal care products outsourcing; Roy Dagnall, pharmaceutical outsourcing; H. Michael Gleason, information technology; Robert W. Gluskin, specialty packaging; and Milan Mandaric, contract manufacturing.

Based in New York City and San Francisco, Behrman Capital was founded in 1992 by Grant G. and Darryl G. Behrman. The firm invests in management buyouts, leveraged buildups and recapitalizations of established growth businesses. The company's investments are focused primarily in four industries: health care, specialty manufacturing, outsourcing, and information technology. The firm currently has a combined capital base of $1.8 billion.