Caliber Collision Centers Ranks Ninth On This Year's Inc. 500; Caliber Selected for Inc. Magazine's Annual List of the Top 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America.

Business Editors and Automotive Writers

IRVINE, Calif.--(AutomotiveWire)--Oct. 15, 2001

Caliber Collision Centers, an Irvine-based operator of high-quality collision repair facilities in California and Texas, announced that it has ranked ninth in Inc. magazine's list of the Top 500 Fastest-Growing Private Companies in America, the only company with headquarters in California to break the top 10, and the only multi-location automobile collision repair business to make the list.

Caliber acquired its first centers in Hollywood, Rialto and Riverside, Calif. In the months following, the company began the rapid development of a comprehensive infrastructure to support its rapidly growing network of high-volume, high-quality, and state-of-the-art facilities. Today, with 62 locations throughout California and Texas, Caliber continues to acquire and develop centers in existing and new markets. Over the past several years, in addition to its robust acquisition strategy, Caliber has averaged solid double-digit same store annual revenue growth.

According to Caliber's Chairman and CEO, Matthew Ohrnstein, Caliber's unparalleled customer service, collision repair expertise, company wide standard operating procedures, integration of acquired centers, and solid relationships with insurance partners have led to such remarkable growth. "We didn't expect to make such a prestigious list because our growth has been very deliberate, very controlled," stated Ohrnstein. "If we maintain our disciplined approach to acquisitions and center development, and our focus on customer service while continuing to develop the next generation of collision repair professionals, we have every expectation that this growth trend can and will continue."

Caliber Collision Centers has funded its operations over the past several years with equity investments from Keystone Inc. (formerly The Robert M. Bass Group), an affiliate of Oak Hill Capital Partners, L.P., and Zurich Centre Investments Inc. In 1999, Caliber completed a $12.5 million financing with BNY Capital Partners, and another $20 million in 2000 from The 1818 Mezzanine Fund, L.P. and BNY Capital Partners, L.P. Over the last five years, Caliber has acquired or developed 62 centers, and today has annual revenues exceeding $190 million.

To be eligible for this year's Inc. 500, companies had to be an independent, privately held corporation, proprietorship, or partnership; had sales of at least $200,000 in 1996; and had a five-year operating or sales history that included an increase in 2000 sales over 1999 sales.

Founded in 1991, with headquarters in Irvine, Caliber Collision Centers operates high-quality collision repair facilities in California and Texas. Caliber currently owns and operates 62 facilities and plans to continue acquiring, developing and integrating high-volume collision repair centers while providing innovative collision repair solutions and automobile physical damage claims support.