Craig B' Klosk

1
Presented By Craig B. Klosk THE WICKS GROUP OF
COMPANIES, L.L.C. September 18, 2006
2
THE WICKS GROUP

• Wicks Communications Media Partners, a private
  equity fund.
• Sector Focused Fund Selected segments of the
  information and media industries, principally in
  the U.S.
• Equity investments in Mid-sized and Smaller
  Market Companies
• Currently managing approximately 1 billion in
  equity capital across 2 active funds

3
THE WICKS GROUP
4
THE WICKS STRATEGY

• Understand sector dynamics/what drives value
• Buy control/own the outcome
• Align incentives by sharing upside with
  Management Teams.
• Buy under-potentiated assets
• Avoid over-leveraging the initial platform
• Invest behind success
• Take advantage of operating leverage

5
THE PRIVATE EQUITY INDUSTRY

• Longer term, illiquid investment, non-marketable
  securities
• Alternative investment vehicles
• Venture Capital
• Buyouts
• Mezzanine
• Other
• Different PE funds general buyout,
  sector-focused
• Scale somewhat dictates focus
• All Funds are not created equal
• Size of the PE universe

6
THE PRIVATE EQUITY INDUSTRY
Risk
Risk
Expected Return
Expected Return
Leverage
Leverage
7
THE PRIVATE EQUITY INDUSTRY
( in billions)
Note Includes buyout and mezzanine funds Source
Thomson Venture Economics / NVCA (for US Venture
Capital data)
8
CASE STUDY
9
COMPANY OVERVIEW

• A niche-focused educational publisher of
  supplemental and curriculum products for Pre-K -
  12th grade

• Inquiry-based alternative to textbooks in
  elementary school science exclusive publisher of
  Foss
• Inquiry-based alternative in secondary school
  science
• Supplementary reading and language arts materials

10
INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

• Brought in new CEO and CFO to grow and
  rationalize business
• Greatly reduced working capital requirements
• Inventory levels
• Order cycle times
• Dramatically improved customer service
• Discontinued operations of retail division

11
INVESTMENT HIGHLIGHTS

• Re-invested and improved sales channel
  effectiveness transformation from catalog sales
  to direct sales
• Integrated several related acquisitions to
  diversify product line and scale
• Improved systems and reporting