CLAIRVEST ANNOUNCES WELLINGTON FINANCIAL PROVIDES $5.5 MILLION OF $17.5 MILLION FINANCING FOR BELAIR NETWORKS
Toronto, Ontario (December 17, 2007) - Wellington Financial LP, a privately held specialty finance firm, today announced a $5.5 million venture debt financing for BelAir Networks Inc. (“BelAir Networks”), a leading provider of mobile broadband mesh solutions for WiFi, WiMAX and 4.9 GHz Public Safety Networks. Proceeds from the financing will be used to accelerate the company’s global expansion strategy. Concurrent with the debt financing, Export Development Canada (“EDC”) led a $12 million equity round. EDC was joined by existing BelAir Networks investors on this round.
“BelAir Networks is an example of another Canadian company leading by innovation and organized for success,” said Craig Netterfield, Vice President at Wellington Financial. “We are pleased to be partnering with the BelAir team by providing the True Growth Capital™ necessary to continue their impressive growth.”
BelAir Networks, headquartered in Kanata, Ontario, offers a scalable and cost effective wireless mesh networking architecture optimized for large hot zone and high density metropolitan deployments. BelAir’s multi-set switch routers integrate easily and transparently into existing networks and physical infrastructure of city districts, college campuses, resorts and other wide area applications. The BelAir solution now commands a leading position in this rapidly growing market and can uniquely grow to support ever increasing customer demand for wireless wide area networking solutions.
“BelAir Networks was recently named the new worldwide wireless mesh node market leader based on revenue; and this funding will help fuel the company’s solid growth trajectory,” said Bernard Herscovich, President and CEO, BelAir Networks. “Our success in delivering proven, reliable and high performance mesh networks for public safety interoperability, citywide wireless networks and demanding enterprise applications has created growing demand for our products globally.”
Gowling LaFleur Henderson LLP and LaBarge Weinstein LLP provided legal advice for this transaction.
Wellington Financial LP is currently managing a $400 million investment program via Wellington Financial Fund III. Since Fund III began operation in September 2006, Wellington Financial LP has led more than $120 million of ransactions, making it the most active fund of its kind in Canada.
About Wellington Financial LP
Wellington Financial LP is a privately held specialty finance firm providing operating lines of credit, term, venture and amortizing loans up to $40 million. Wellington Financial LP is currently deploying a $400 million investment program via its third fund. The fund’s clients vary in size and business model, but generally have current year revenue of approximately $5 million. Wellington Financial LP is managed by a partnership controlled by fund management and Clairvest Group Inc. (CVG:TSX), who jointly have contributed a large financial stake to Fund III. Limited partners include several of Canada’s largest institutional investors, crown corporations, financial institutions and pension funds. Please visit the fund website at http://www.wellingtonfund.com, or the Wellington Financial team blog at ww.wellingtonfund.com/blog.
About BelAir Networks
BelAir Networks is the first company to offer scalable, mobile wireless broadband mesh networking solutions with the highest quality for data, voice and video. The company teams with world-class global partners to deploy proven, cost-effective wireless broadband mesh networks. BelAir’s wireless networking solutions are built on the only multi-service
architecture for municipal wireless broadband deployments of Wi-Fi, WiMAX and 3G Cellular networks. Built specifically for outdoor-in deployments, BelAir Networks’ patented solution delivers the lowest cost per user and deploys in days, blending into the physical infrastructure of downtown business districts, hotels and resorts, and campuses. Founded in 2001, BelAir Networks is a privately held company. For more info, visit http://www.belairnetworks.com.
For additional information:
Amy Olah
Marketing Manager, Wellington Financial LP
Tel: (416) 682-6002, .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)