Sale of Mail Order Company Haband to Catalog Holdings--Direct Marketing, Mail Order, E-commerce News

OLDSMITH AGIO HELMS ANNOUNCES THE SALE

OF HABAND COMPANY, INC. TO GOLDEN GATE CAPITAL

Goldsmith Agio Helms is pleased to announce the sale of its client, Haband Company, Inc., to Catalog Holdings, a Golden Gate Capital portfolio company. Catalog Holdings is one of the largest direct apparel retailers in the nation and has annual revenues in excess of $1 billion. Haband was founded in 1925 by M. Habernickel Jr. as "The Necktie Supermarket" and has been owned and operated by the Habernickel family ever since. The Company offers apparel to the value-conscious consumer through direct mail and the Internet to men and women in every city and town in the U.S.A. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

This transaction is the 39th completed by Goldsmith Agio Helms’ Direct Marketing and Specialty Retail Group, which facilitated the transaction.

Transaction Highlights

The transaction adds another strong apparel brand to Catalog Holding’s direct retail portfolio, which already includes 10 other catalog titles (i.e., Spiegel, Newport News, Carabella, AB Lambdin, Norm Thompson, Solutions, Sahalie, Appleseed’s, Draper’s & Damon’s and The Tog Shop). "We are very excited to welcome Haband to the Catalog Holdings family of women's and men’s apparel and specialty brands” said Stefan Kaluzny, a Managing Director at Golden Gate Capital. “With the addition of Haband, we have significantly increased our offerings to the aging baby boomer demographic and are now the largest direct retailer serving this rapidly growing segment of the population. Furthermore, the addition of Haband to our ten existing titles creates even greater opportunities for each to benefit from the scale and expertise of the group."

Duke Habernickel, Chairman of Haband, added “I am very proud of the expert and powerful team that Haband will bring to the Golden Gate fold, where I am certain that Haband will continue in its long tradition of delivering quality and value to its millions of loyal customers.”

David Solomon, a Managing Director at Goldsmith Agio Helms and Head of its Direct Marketing and Specialty Retail Group, said “the over-60 market is expected to grow by more than 50% over the next 15 years, as maturing baby boomers retire. Haband presents Golden Gate Capital with a terrific opportunity to cement its leadership position in this highly-attractive market.”

“Since its founding more than 80 years ago, Haband has been a key player in the direct to consumer apparel market,” said Eric Roth, a Vice President at Goldsmith Agio Helms. “The combination of Haband’s talented management team and Golden Gate Capital’s direct marketing expertise will ensure that the Company continues to flourish.”

The Buyer

Golden Gate Capital is a San Francisco-based private equity investment firm with approximately $2.5 billion of capital under management. Golden Gate Capital is dedicated to partnering with world-class management teams to invest in change-intensive, growth businesses. Golden Gate targets investments in situations where there is a demonstrable opportunity to significantly enhance a company's value. The principals of Golden Gate Capital have a long and successful history of investing with management partners across a wide range of industries and transaction types. For more information, please visit www.goldengatecap.com .

The Company

Haband Company, Inc. was founded in 1925 and is one of America ’s oldest and largest direct mail and online marketers of value-priced men’s and women’s comfortable, casual apparel, shoes and practical home items. The Company sells directly to moderate- and middle-income Americans over 50 years old using a coordinated combination of weekly mailings, print advertising in newspapers and magazines, catalogs, the Haband.com web site, and three retail stores. The Company is headquartered in Oakland , New Jersey , and has operations in Eatonton and Athens , Georgia and in Peckville , Pennsylvania . For more information, please visit www.haband.com

Goldsmith Agio Helms

Goldsmith Agio Helms ( www.agio.com ) is one of the nation's leading independent investment banking firms providing sophisticated corporate finance advisory services to middle-market businesses. The firm's services include mergers and acquisitions, private placements of debt and equity, distressed advisory and restructuring, and financial advisory and opinion services. Goldsmith Agio Helms is America’s leading firm for direct marketing transactions, having advised on the sales of five direct marketing companies to date in 2006. The firm operates internationally from its offices in Minneapolis, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and London.

If you would like more information about this transaction, contact David Solomon ( dsolomon@agio.com ), Eric Roth (eroth@agio.com), or Avi Turetsky ( aturetsky@agio.com ), at 212-758-8575.