FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
August 1, 2005

Contact
L. Thomas Gregory, Managing Director (312) 681-7400
Demian Kircher, Principal (312) 681-7400
Brian Maney, Director, Corporate Communications (301) 951-6122

Fosbel: Fired Up & Ready

By Agnieszka Opalka

Founded in 1981, Fosbel is the global leader in providing refractory maintenance and repair services to operators of heavy industrial ovens and furnaces in the coke and glass production industries. Through its Cetek division, the company also provides ceramic coating technology and other efficiency enhancing services to operators of fired heaters in the hydrocarbon processing industry. Headquartered in Brook Park, OH, Fosbel serves customers globally with significant operations in North and South America, Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.

In a July 29, 2005 transaction, Fosbel Holdings Ltd. was acquired by American Capital Strategies Ltd. (Nasdaq: ACAS) in a one-stop buyout. American Capital provided a $111 million financing package consisting of a revolving credit facility, senior term debt, senior and junior subordinated debt and equity. Fosbel management also made a significant investment in the equity.

Fosbel joins American Capital's portfolio of more than 130 middle market companies in a wide range of industries. Since 1997, American Capital has invested nearly $6 billion in middle market companies. For more information about American Capital's portfolio click here.

"Fosbel is truly a global organization, maintaining relationships with hundreds of leading customers on six continents. Our global focus positions us well as certain geographic markets continue to be strong for the foreseeable future," said Fosbel CEO Derek Scott. "Our in-house knowledge and expertise represents a significant competitive advantage, enabling us to act as value-added, expert industry consultants rather than simply need-by-need service coordinators."

Fosbel possesses the dominant market share in ceramic welding in the coke industry across major world geographies, especially the Americas and Europe. The company offers its coke customers a broad range of services designed to keep their ovens operating at maximum efficiency through its Complete Battery Maintenance (CBM) program, which was instituted by the current management team. CBM is a comprehensive package of total maintenance and repair services carried out by an on-site Fosbel project team. In addition, Fosbel also offers a proprietary software program, referred to as COMIT, which enables continuous monitoring of the coke battery. Fosbel is the only company in the world that provides this technology solution. Additional services include a range of inspection and consulting services, hot refractory repairs, rebricking services, flue cleaning, regenerator repairs, frame changes and oven dusting.

Similar to its coke segment, Fosbel offers a broad range of services to its glass customers, including hot refractory repairs. Fosbel's ceramic welding process for glass furnace hot repair is the best repair method available, effectively "rebuilding" the damaged refractory and restoring the furnace to its original operating condition. Other services include hot bottom repairs, refractory sawing and hot end inspection services. With these unique, value-added services, Fosbel is the market leader in ceramic welding in the glass industry, with significant share in both the Americas and Europe. Pictured at right, a specialist technician is carefully performing refractory sawing to remove and install equipment without jeopardizing the structural integrity of the furnace.

Fosbel's Cetek division provides process and efficiency improvement services to customers in the hydrocarbon processing industry. Hydrocarbon processing is the process of converting crude organic chemical compounds, such as oil or natural gas, into refined chemicals and products that can be used for modern fuel, electricity and manufacturing needs. Through its innovative and proprietary technologies, Fosbel offers a full suite of services designed to help customers operate cleaner and more efficiently. Services include high emissivity coatings, process tube oxidation protection, hot tube descaling, hot convection cleaning, inspection services, hot fiber spray and refractory maintenance services. Pictured at left, a highly trained and experienced technician is applying a high emissivity ceramic coating to the refractory lining of a process furnace to substantially increase production capacity and fuel savings.

"With nearly 25 years of operating history, Fosbel has aggregated a substantial amount of experience and expertise. By maintaining one of the most experienced and highly knowledgeable work forces in the industry, Fosbel makes it difficult for competitors to provide a comparable level of service," said American Capital Managing Director Tom Gregory. "A provider of value-added refractory maintenance services in the Coke, Glass and Cetek market, Fosbel provides services for which there will always be a need."

In general, the Americas coke production market is expected to grow at a moderate level, with significant continued growth in Asia driven largely by Chinese steel demand. In fact, Asian steel production is expected to continue to grow at the fastest rate of any world region, producing half of the world's steel by 2012. In addition, coke oven maintenance and repair outsourcing, a standard in North America, is expected to grow at an attractive rate as coke producers try to comply with increasing, complex and rigorous emission standards and reduce fixed labor costs by utilizing sophisticated third parties to maximize the life and efficiency of coke plants that tend to deteriorate under harsh operating conditions.

Similarly, glass production, both container glass and flat glass (used in construction and automobiles), is also expected to increase. Due to the increased complexity of glass furnaces, the preparation for and execution of ceramic welding repairs requires a high level of expertise, typically available from an outsourced party.

In Fosbel's Cetek business, the company's major international presence in the world's three largest gasoline producing regions, North America, Asia-Pacific and Western Europe, which together account for over 80% of the world's gasoline production, and the company's relationships with global industry leaders, position it to capitalize on global consolidation in the petroleum industry. In addition, maintenance and repair outsourcing within the hydrocarbon industry remains virtually untapped, giving Fosbel the opportunity to leverage its Cetek operations and further penetrate the market.

With its leading global market positions, technological strengths, skilled workforce, full-service maintenance and repair offerings and favorable industry fundamentals supporting its growth, Fosbel is fired up and ready to take its business up another notch.