For More information:

CHICAGO and LONDON/ October 15, 2001/Businesswire/-- Lake Capital, a Chicago- and London-based private investment firm that specializes in building high-quality, service-based companies into premier global enterprises, today announced it has expanded its professional team to support future growth with the hiring of a vice president and an associate in the firm's London office and two associates and an analyst in Lake Capital's Chicago office.

J. Duncan Grierson has joined Lake Capital's London office as a vice president. Grierson previously spent four years in venture capital in Paris and London, most recently as a director with Galileo Partners and, before that, as a director with Thompson Clive and Partners. Grierson had been a corporate finance lawyer with Clifford Chance in London and Frankfurt, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He also spent time in the firm's Private Equity Group, where he worked on leveraged buy-outs and development capital transactions.

Also in London, Anthony Simler has joined Lake Capital as an associate from the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he had been an associate director in the Leveraged Finance Group. Prior to his three years at Royal Bank, Simler was with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Transaction Services Group. Simler, a chartered accountant, began his career at Kidsons Impey, London

Lake Capital's Chicago office has expanded with associates Edward A. Kovas and Nicole Theall and analyst Jason M. Paru. Ted Kovas joined Lake Capital after graduating with his MBA from the Harvard Business School. Prior to returning to school for his graduate degree, Kovas was an associate at Gryphon Partners, L.P., and was also a co-founder of Employ Technology, a recruiting technology solutions provider. Prior to joining Gryphon, Kovas spent two years at Bear Stearns & Co. Inc. as a financial analyst in the firm's Financial Buyers Coverage Group.

Nicole Theall joined Lake Capital after receiving her MBA from the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. She earlier spent four years with Chase Securities. Theall started with Chase in 1995 as a credit analyst in Middle Market Banking and was then promoted within the group to account officer. In 1997, Theall moved to Global Syndicated Finance as a financial analyst and was promoted a year later to an associate.

Jason Paru joined Lake Capital in 2001 after spending two years in the Merchant Banking Group at Lehman Brothers. Earlier, Paru worked as a summer analyst in investment banking with Bear, Stearns & Co. and Salomon Smith Barney between academic years at Northwestern University.

"We're excited about the high caliber professionals that have joined our team," noted Terence M. Graunke, chairman and principal of Lake Capital. "We have over $250 million of equity committed to our current global business service initiatives. Our new colleagues will play important roles as we build our current initiatives and develop new ones in the near future, to each of which we expect to commit $100-200 million in equity."

About Lake Capital

Lake Capital invests in and supports companies with strong executive teams capable of managing larger, growth-oriented businesses focused on expansion opportunities in service-based industries that are international in scope. Most recently, Lake Capital led the successful build-up of Lighthouse Global Network, which was acquired by Cordiant Communications Group in September 2000. The firm is currently building DVC Worldwide, a leader in the use of behavioral marketing to create integrated marketing, communications, and technology solutions, and Nth Degree Global, a leading face-to-face marketing company. The firm has offices in Chicago and London. Lake Capital's principals are Terence M. Graunke, Julian Hanson-Smith, and Paul G. Yovovich.

Additional information about Lake Capital and its investments is available at www.lakecapital.com