NewSpring Capital Partners With Violle, LLC In Acquisition

NewSpring Mezzanine

NewSpring Capital, a family of private equity funds providing growth equity and mezzanine capital, announced today that NewSpring Mezzanine, the dedicated mezzanine fund of NewSpring Capital, partnered with Atlanta-based Violle, LLC ("Violle") with an investment for the acquisition of North Carolina based Utilipath, LLC.

Based in Mooresville, NC, Utilipath is a nationally recognized provider of construction services in telecommunications infrastructure services and turnkey dark fiber solutions. Utilipath, which was established in 2003, is a leading provider of Outside Plant Infrastructure Services ("OSP") in the telecommunications infrastructure services segment. Utilipath has completed projects in over forty states and Canada and has twelve offices throughout the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast US.

"With the demand for increased voice, video and data services, we believe Utilipath is positioned to take advantage of this developing high-growth market as service providers attempt to upgrade the capacity and performance of their networks," said Joaquin Luna, Managing Partner of Violle, LLC and CEO of Utilipath. "We look forward to building upon the strong foundation they have laid and continuing the legacy of Utilipath."

Steve Hobman, NewSpring General Partner and new Utilipath board member, adds, "The proliferation of mobile devices and aging wireless infrastructure are just a few examples of the market growth drivers at play here. Utilipath is a respected leader in the telecom infrastructure services sector and we are thrilled to partner with Violle and the management team to execute on the Company's next stage of growth."

In conjunction with the acquisition, Violle will be merged into Utilipath as a new division to be named Utilipath Fiber Networks. Utilipath Fiber Networks will provide turnkey dark fiber solutions including custom fiber builds and strategic route partnerships for Carrier, Wireless and Government customers in both the long-haul and metro markets. For more information please visit http://www.utilipath.com

About Violle, LLC

Violle, LLC is an Atlanta based telecommunications firm that provides carrier dark fiber services including engineering, deployment, maintenance and operations. For more information on Violle, please visit www.violle.us.