SageGroup Strategies Forms Industrial Equipment Division to Help Troubled Industrial Equipment Companies Nationally and Internationally

Los Angeles, CA; New York City, NY; and Chicago, IL -- November 1, 2004. SageGroup Strategies announces that it has formed a major Industrial Equipment Division to serve troubled Industrial Equipment companies nationally and internationally.

SageGroup is the largest Professional Troubled-Company Specialist firm in the U.S.A. and the world, with over sixty offices in the U.S.A., Canada, Asia, and Europe, and with several more pending offices. The Firm specializes in helping troubled companies and other complex situations. Its main objectives include to: a) resolve their serious problems; b) reorganize and restructure them in an optimal manner; c) obtain sufficient financing; and/or d) grow and develop the ongoing companies in a positive appropriate manner.

"The Industrial Equipment Sector is very large, dynamic, highly competitive, and important to the economies and well-being of the United States and most other countries worldwide," stated Bob Bechtold, a SGS Industrial Equipment Division member with strong managerial, entrepreneurial, and marketing experience. "The Sector consists of many Industrial Equipment Industries, each of which has its own characteristics, dynamics, and other aspects. And, most of these Industries have troubled, weak, and/or small companies that can be greatly helped by SageGroup to resolve pressing problems and/or to transition into being larger, stronger, better-financed, stronger-management-team-run ongoing companies. SageGroup is able to help in many ways, including by helping to bring additional executives, financing, technologies, markets, relationships, locations, and other positives to the situations."

Larry Lindsey, a SGS Industrial Equipment Division Co-Manager, added, "An excellent example is SageGroup's involvement in the Industrial Cleaning Equipment Industry, which is evolving very rapidly because of recent regulatory, environmental, and other factors. SageGroup's initial involvement was with an established company in the Industry, one with over sixteen years of designing, engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and repairing its technologically-advanced product line of quality industrial cleaning equipment nationally and internationally. As part of the overall strategy, this company became a SageGroup client, with the objective of transitioning this company into being a much larger, stronger, better-financed, and stronger-management-team-run ongoing company. Concurrently, this company and SageGroup jointly formed a new company CSI to be the main ongoing entity. To facilitate this, CSI acquired this company's intangible assets and the exclusive worldwide product, technology, and marketing rights. And, this company's president became a senior executive, co-owner, and co-founder of CSI. The result was a mutually-beneficial situation for the companies and other involvees."

Jim Hill, president of CSI with many years of managerial, marketing, operational, entrepreneurial, and other Industrial Cleaning Equipment Industry experience, continued, "It has been very interesting to experience how this SageGroup process works, step by step, in the best interests of everyone. And, CSI has already launched a strong proactive corporate development program under which it plans to enter into mutual opportunities with other companies in the Industrial Cleaning Equipment Industry -- which is a major CSI Division. In addition, CSI and SageGroup are working closely together in determining the next Industrial Equipment Industry to jointly enter in a complementary strategic manner."

SageGroup offers a powerful large group of professionals who are experts at helping companies get out of trouble and move forward. SageGroup's staff includes over 600 highly-qualified specialists, including: financing and financial experts; turnaround experts; troubled-company specialists; marketing specialists; international business experts; attorneys; strategists; CPAs; corporate development specialists; acquisition and strategic alliance experts; corporate executives; operations experts; global sourcing specialists; industry specialists; technologists; and many others.

SageGroup's staff has been involved in hundreds of difficult company situations, including: refinancings; turnarounds; crisis management; debtor programs; spin-outs; restructurings and reorganizations; managed wind-downs and shut-downs; and transitions into being larger, stronger, better-financed, and stronger-management-team-run ongoing companies.

The SGS Industrial Equipment Division has at least one representative in each SGS Office nationally. For maximum confidentiality, initial inquiries from troubled Industrial Equipment companies and their advisors can be directed to Larry Lindsey, a SGS Managing Director and one of the SGS Industrial Equipment Division Co-Managers, at SGS's International Coordination Office, phone number (510) 865-2480.