Lake Forest, Illinois, December 2004–Waud Capital Partners, L.L.C. (“WCP”) has announced the sale of its portfolio company, Parish Publishing Solutions (“Parish” or “the Company”), to Liturgical Publications, Inc., the largest church bulletin publisher in the United States.

Acquired by Waud Capital Partners in 1998, Parish is a niche publishing company that produces advertising-supported weekly church bulletins primarily for the Catholic Church. The weekly bulletins provide a unique opportunity for local merchants and service providers to promote their businesses and support the faith community with a small annual investment. The Company provides service for 450 parishes and 7,000 advertisers from facilities in Sterling Heights, MI and Rochester, NY. While Waud Capital Partners owned the business, Parish upgraded its computer systems, production equipment, customer service and accounting systems. In addition, the Company increased profitability by expanding its markets to other religious groups and is currently active in expanding its geographic territory.

“WCP helped us focus on those aspects of the business and operations which created the most value and provided the necessary capital and resources. At the same time, they worked closely with us to simplify the operations and successfully utilized an 80/20 approach to the business,” said Bill Douglass, President and CEO of Parish Publishing Solutions. Mr. Douglass continued, “The Waud Capital team knew when to help, but they also allowed us to make key decisions based upon our team’s intimate knowledge of the operation which allowed us to respond quickly to competitive challenges. There is a high priority on letting the people who are closest to the business set the strategy and make the decisions. WCP was highly supportive and empowered us to do our best work on a daily basis. I believe this approach played a key role in our success and the return that was earned for all the stakeholders.”

“Bill Douglass and his team have been great partners and we’re pleased to have had a successful sale. We hope we will have the opportunity to work with Bill again as we continue to pursue unique publishing opportunities for our new fund,” said Reeve Waud, Founder and Managing Partner of Waud Capital Partners.

About Waud Capital Partners, L.L.C.
Waud Capital Partners, L.L.C. is a private equity investment firm founded in 1993 with more than $400 million of capital under management. “Our last fund, which was raised in 1998, has achieved a compounded net IRR of 34% to our investors and we are proud that it has made us one of the top two funds in the United States raised during that period,” said Reeve Waud. Mr. Waud continued, “In the past twelve months alone we made three new investments, twenty follow-on acquisitions for our portfolio companies, successfully sold three of our portfolio companies, and had a first closing on our new $260 million fund. We expect our second and final closing to occur in the first quarter of 2005.”

WCP is focused on partnering with exceptional management teams to invest in middle market buyouts, recapitalizations, industry consolidation and growth equity investments. The firm seeks to invest $10 million to $50 million in private companies in the following four areas: business and consumer services, healthcare services, industrial/specialty distribution and niche manufacturing businesses. Typically, the companies in which WCP invests have enterprise values between $30 million and $150 million. Since its founding, Waud Capital Partners has successfully made more than sixty investments, without a single capital loss, in a wide range of industries, including adhesives, alarm monitoring, automotive components, coatings, consumer products, lighting, litigation services, petroleum distribution, pharmaceuticals, publishing, sealants and specialty hospitals. The firm is backed by a number of institutions, including Citigroup, Middlebury College, SunAmerica, The St. Paul Travelers Companies and the University of Chicago Hospitals, among others, as well a number of well-known families and high net worth individuals.

For Further Information:
Reeve Waud, Founder and Managing Partner
Waud Capital Partners, L.L.C.
560 Oakwood Avenue, Suite 203
Lake Forest, IL 60045
847-604-9550
rwaud@waudcapital.com
www.waudcapital.com