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Riverlake Partners and Thetford Partners Acquire E-Z Messenger & Hawkins and Campbell; Transaction Creates Largest Firm Serving Arizona's Legal Industry PORTLAND, Ore. & KIRKLAND, Wash. --(Business Wire)-- Nov. 1, 2004 -- Riverlake Partners LLC, of Portland, Ore., and Thetford Partners LLC, of Kirkland, Wash., have joined to acquire the assets and operations of E-Z Messenger Attorney Service Inc., of Tucson, Ariz., and Hawkins and Campbell Inc., of Phoenix, Ariz. The transaction creates the largest professional service firm serving the Arizona legal community. The value of the joint acquisition was undisclosed.After working as friendly competitors for nearly 35 years, the two companies were combined to form Hawkins and E-Z Messenger Legal-Support Providers, LLC, (HELP), the largest and most technologically advanced company of its kind. HELP will operate headquarters in Tucson, Ariz., and a second office in Phoenix, Ariz. "Our investment firms are always looking for companies riding the bleeding edge of their industries with a lot of potential for growth," said Bob Hild, Chairman of HELP's Board of Managers and a Thetford principal. "Both of these organizations have aggressively pursued service enhancements through the use of technology and sound management practices. They've got a wealth of expertise, and a broad range of services we intend to expand and grow beyond Arizona's borders." HELP's mission is to serve the industry as a single-source, Web-based provider of legal support services. Ronald R. Ezell, founder of E-Z Messenger, will serve as the company's CEO. Thomas MacDonald, general manager of Hawkins and Campbell, will serve as President. Both Ezell and MacDonald are industry veterans with extensive involvement with both the Arizona and National Association of Professional Process Servers. MacDonald was recently re-elected to President of the Arizona Association for the sixth straight term. "Our companies have a strong history of industry leadership, and of working together to provide the best possible services to our clients," said Ezell. "The merger allows us to do something we've talked about for a long time: combine our core strengths to offer the best of breed services, expertise and experience for the Arizona legal community." Legal Industry Ripe for Growth While effective marketing and product development will drive initial growth, HELP anticipates future opportunities to acquire high quality companies in the fragmented legal support industry. "During the next year, we intend to aggressively pursue acquisitions within the industry that will be synergistic to HELP and improve our ability to provide service to national clients," said Erik Krieger, managing member of Riverlake. "We think it's likely that we will make three to four acquisitions within 18 months." About HELP HELP is a pioneer in Web-based services for the legal industry, with online ordering and tracking capabilities that allow customers to quickly access services and ensure prompt response. The combined entity will specialize in messenger and courier services, court research and reporting, skip tracing, research and private investigations, and service of process. It will aggressively pursue technology advances and new services such as court reporting and paralegal support to better service its clients. For more information visit www.helpaz.com. About Riverlake Riverlake Partners, LLC, is a private equity buy out fund with a targeted focus on traditional economy manufacturing, distribution and service business primarily located in the Western and Midwestern United States. Riverlake seeks controlling interests in companies through commitments of $3 to $8 million in a variety of leveraged buyout, consolidations, recapitalizations and growth financing transactions. About Thetford Thetford Partners acquires and invests in profitable, low technology companies with market values between $3 and $20 million in the Western United States. Thetford focuses on high quality, historically strong companies that have an opportunity, through effective management, to grow rapidly and attain a position of leadership in their industries. |
