Friend Skolar Sells Slime to Illinois Tool Works

Friend Skoler & Co. has sold Accessories Marketing Inc. to Illinois Tool Works Inc. (NYSE: ITW) for an undisclosed amount. Accessories Marketing is a Grover Beach, Calif.-based maker and marketer of Slime branded products for the tire care solutions market.

PRESS RELEASE

Friend Skoler & Co., a private equity firm that invests in leading middle market companies, announced today the sale of Accessories Marketing, Inc. (“AMI”) d/b/a Slime to Illinois Tool Works Inc. (“ITW”, NYSE: ITW). The transaction closed on April 1, 2010.

Headquartered in Grover Beach, CA, Slime is the leading manufacturer and marketer of Slime branded products and accessories for the tire care solutions market. Slime’s products include its flagship green Slime tire sealants, as well as a complete line of tire care products and accessories that include portable air compressors, tire gauges, flat tire repair kits, and selfhealing tire tubes. Slime products are carried by major specialty and mass market retailers in the U.S. and can be found in over 60,000 retail outlets in over 36 countries. Since its founding in 1990, Slime has emerged as the most dynamic and trusted brand in the industry, earning a clear leadership position in the flat tire prevention and repair category.

Friend Skoler purchased Slime in partnership with the Company’s employees in December, 2006. During its ownership of the Company, Friend Skoler worked closely with management to execute various organic growth strategies that resulted in a doubling of revenues in three years. “Friend Skoler’s support and expertise helped us achieve dramatic growth,” said Rodney Cegelski, Executive Vice President of Slime. “Their partnership approach to working with management, and their willingness to dig in and provide guidance on a wide range of strategic and operational issues made them the ideal partner to help grow the Company and position us for continued success in the future.”

The sale generated an internal rate of return in excess of 40% on invested capital for Friend Skoler and its investors during their three and one-half years of ownership. “We could not be more pleased with the success of Slime during our tenure as owners of the Company. This is a special Company with extremely talented, dedicated employees. Over the last three years Slime has established itself as the clear industry leader in the tire care solutions market, and its emerging OEM business is truly exciting.” said Alexander A. Friend, Managing Director of Friend Skoler & Co. “The extraordinary return that we realized during this difficult economic environment demonstrates that our approach to investing in and building leading companies in the lower middle market continues to be highly rewarding for our investors.”

About Friend Skoler & Co.
Friend Skoler is a private equity firm that invests in leading middle market companies with strong growth potential. The firm typically invests between $10 million and $40 million of equity per transaction and manages Friend Skoler Equity Investors, L.P., a private equity fund with $231 million of capital commitments. A key element of the fund’s strategy is to leverage the firm’s extensive experience as investors in and operators of middle market companies. Friend Skoler is headquartered in Saddle Brook, NJ. For additional information, please visit www.friendskoler.com.

About Accessories Marketing, Inc.

Headquartered in Grover Beach, CA, AMI is the leading manufacturer and marketer of Slime branded products and accessories for the tire care solutions market. Slime’s products include its flagship green Slime tire sealants, as well as a complete line of tire care products and accessories that include portable air compressors, tire gauges, flat tire repair kits and self-healing tire tubes. For additional information, please visit www.slime.com