Charterhouse Group Partners with MTS Health Investors and Highlander Partners to Acquire Chamberlin Edmonds & Associates, Inc., a Leading Provider of Eligibility Services to Hospitals

NEW YORK, June 5 /PRNewswire/ — Charterhouse Group, Inc. (“Charterhouse”) a New York-based private equity firm that has backed entrepreneurs and supported growing middle-market companies since 1973, announced today that it has partnered with Highlander Partners (“Highlander”) and MTS Health Investors (“MTS”) to complete the acquisition of Chamberlin Edmonds & Associates, Inc. (“CEA” or the “Company”), the market leader in providing specialized eligibility determination services to America’s hospitals.

CEA guides uninsured patients through complex application processes to secure government and community reimbursement for uncompensated medical care expenses. Specializing in federal and state disability programs, the Company primarily serves acute care hospital customers. Using an on-site, patient-centric approach supported by application resolution centers, CEA manages the entire eligibility determination process from initial patient referral through the post-application resolution process. Founded in 1986, the Company currently has contracts in 27 states and works claims nationwide through its regional network of resolution centers.

T. Ulrich Brechbuhl, Chief Executive Officer of CEA, stated, “Charterhouse is a firm with substantial experience in partnering with management teams of leading services companies. With the capital resources and industry knowledge from Charterhouse, Highlander and MTS, we are now positioned to generate substantial organic growth, expand our service offerings and pursue strategic acquisitions.”

C. Taylor Cole, Jr., Partner at Charterhouse, stated, “Led by Ulrich and his exceptional management team, CEA provides tremendous value to its hospital customers. Without CEA’s services, many hospitals would forego much needed financial resources that help sustain their ability to provide critical healthcare services to communities across the country. We are quite excited to help CEA continue its impressive growth, and we look forward to working with Highlander and MTS who both have significant knowledge and relationships that are highly strategic to CEA.”

Founder Judith Starkey, Mr. Brechbuhl and Executive Vice Presidents Kirk Reid and Brian Sadler continue as significant shareholders in the Company.

Charterhouse Operating Partner, Christopher J. Garcia will serve as Chairman of the Board of Directors of CEA. Mr. Garcia has extensive experience in building and leading healthcare and business services companies. He previously founded and built National Healthcare Resources, which was sold in 2001. Since joining Charterhouse in 2003, Mr. Garcia has served as Chairman of three Charterhouse portfolio companies, Lason, Inc., a business process outsourcing company which was successfully sold in 2007, Camelot, Inc., a behavioral health and alternative education services provider and
Upstream Rehabilitation, Inc., an outpatient rehabilitation services provider. Proskauer Rose LLP served as legal advisor to Charterhouse on this transaction.

GE Healthcare Financial Services served as Arranger and Administrative Agent and with CIT Healthcare provided the senior financing for the acquisition. Robert W. Baird and Co. acted as exclusive financial advisor to the selling shareholders of CEA on this transaction.

About Chamberlin Edmonds:
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Chamberlin Edmonds and Associates, Inc. serves as patient advocates and provides comprehensive eligibility determination services for hospitals, governments and managed care organizations nationwide. The Company currently provides contracted eligibility determination services to over 160 customers in 27 states and guides patients through complex application processes to secure government and community reimbursement for uncompensated medical care expenses. Chamberlin Edmonds has over 20 years of healthcare experience, with six regional offices in the U.S. and more than 650 employees.

For more information on CEA, please visit www.chamberlinedmonds.com.

About Charterhouse Group:
Charterhouse Group, Inc. is a private equity firm with over three decades of experience in building leading middle-market companies. Established in 1973, Charterhouse has invested in excess of $2.0 billion in equity and established over 100 platform companies with a focus in the Healthcare Services, Business Services and Consumer Products and Services sectors.

For more information on Charterhouse, please visit www.charterhousegroup.com.

About Highlander:
Highlander Partners, L.P. is an investment firm based in Dallas, Texas that manages assets across a variety of investment types with a significant portion of its funds allocated for direct private equity investments. Highlander Partners primarily focuses on healthcare investments, but also has expertise in basic manufacturing, performance chemicals, food ingredients and other sectors.

About MTS:
MTS Health Investors, LLC, located in New York, is a healthcare private equity firm that makes equity investments in the buyout, recapitalization or growth financing of healthcare operating companies. MTS focuses on businesses that operate in certain services sectors of healthcare including managed care/health insurance, providers of healthcare services, distributors of medical products and providers of outsourced services to the healthcare industry. The firm also invests in manufacturers of low-technology medical products.

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Marquette, MI, December 19, 2006 – Pioneer Surgical Technology (“Pioneer” or the “Company”), a leading innovator in the design and manufacture of spinal and orthopaedic implants, announced today that it has closed a $30.5 million Preferred Equity private placement. Pharos Capital Group, LLC led the syndicate of investors and was joined by Highlander Partners, LP, Hopewell Ventures, and River Cities Capital Funds.

The capital will be used to fund Pioneer’s ongoing Investigation Device Exemption (IDE) study of its NUBAC™ Intradiscal Device; global distribution expansion; and aggressive project development programs including motion preservation devices, biologics, and minimally invasive surgical approaches.

Founded in 1992, Pioneer began as an orthopaedic medical device company. After establishing its spinal division in 2004 and launching its initial spinal products, the Company has experienced rapid revenue growth and market acceptance of its novel implants including a full development pipeline and the NUBAC™ Intradiscal System. Pioneer recently began implanting NUBAC™, the only intradiscal arthroplasty device utilizing articulating PEEK-on-PEEK material, as part of its IDE study. The device is designed to preserve most of the annular tissue while being less invasive than Total Disc Replacement (TDR) and fusion.

“The depth and breadth of expertise gained from our venture capital syndicate partners creates tremendous synergies that, along with the new capital, will propel Pioneer to a new frontier in the spinal medical device marketplace,” stated Matthew N. Songer, M.D., President and CEO of Pioneer Surgical Technology.

Joel Goldberg, a Principal at Pharos Capital Group said, “We are impressed by the Company’s business model for developing innovative products that will dramatically raise the standard of care for the large numbers of people afflicted with spinal disorders. The NUBAC™ device truly exemplifies the management team’s commitment to using advanced technology to improve daily life for these patients.”

Pioneer was advised by P&M Corporate Finance, LLC, a boutique investment bank providing private placement, merger and acquisition advisory services to life science companies in North America and Europe.

About Pioneer Surgical Technology
Pioneer Surgical Technology, headquartered in Marquette, Michigan, is a leading innovator in the design and manufacture of spinal and orthopedic implants. Founded in 1992, Pioneer has positioned itself as a true surgeon-driven spinal device company that promotes responsiveness through customer intimacy, surgeon-to-surgeon relationships, and a commitment to long-term innovation. In 2005 Pioneer launched the following spinal implant systems in addition to receiving the CE mark for the NUBAC™ Intradiscal System: Quantum Spinal Rod, Pioneer Anterior Cervical Plate and its PEEK-Plus Vertebral Replacement Devices.

The company is expanding its 70,000 square foot facility in Marquette as it continues to grow its spinal and orthopaedic products. Pioneer currently employees over 200 employees worldwide and has been awarded 30 patents. For more information, visit www.pioneersurgical.com.

About Pharos Capital Group, LLC
Based in Dallas and Nashville, Pharos Capital Group (www.pharosfunds.com) currently has approximately $500 million in capital under management. Pharos primarily invests $10 to $20 million in companies seeking later stage equity funding for internal growth, acquisitions, management buyouts or recapitalizations across industry sectors, with particular focus on health care, business services, and applied technology.

About Hopewell Ventures
Hopewell Ventures (www.HopewellVentures.com) is a $110 million Chicago- and Peoria, IL-based venture capital and private equity firm providing growth and buyout capital to Midwestern businesses in a broad range of industries and stages of development. With more than a century of experience, Hopewell’s team makes initial investments of $1.5 to $5 million.

About River Cities Capital Funds
River Cities Capital Funds provides growth equity to companies primarily in healthcare and information technology. With offices in Cincinnati and Raleigh and over $300 million in capital under management, River Cities actively seeks expansion stage companies throughout the Midwest and Southeast United States. For more information, visit www.rccf.com.

About P&M Corporate Finance
P&M Corporate Finance, LLC is a boutique investment bank providing merger and acquisition services to middle-market companies in North America and Europe. PMCF provides a broad range of services including sale advisory, acquisition advisory, capital raising and strategic advisory. The organization has dedicated industry teams focused on providing services to the life sciences, business services, building products and industrial industries. PMCF is headquartered in Southfield, Michigan with additional offices in Chicago, Illinois and Cleveland, Ohio. For additional information, visit www.pmcf.com.

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DEFIANCE, OHIO (May 12, 2006)- Diehl Food Ingredients, Inc. has been formed through the asset purchase of Diehl, Inc. of Defiance, Ohio by Highlander Partners, L.P. of Dallas, TX. Diehl Food Ingredients manufactures and markets powdered ingredient systems based upon proprietary processes and applied technology. In addition, the company maintains experienced technical service and development chemists to assist customers in new product innovations.

“This transaction will serve as the first acquisition of several planned in the food ingredients area” according to Charles A. Nicolais, the new president and a principal in the new company. “We now have a strong platform through this acquisition and we intend to build upon it by leveraging Diehl’s operations along with the financial skills of Highlander Partners. The technical and manufacturing skills of Diehl are what really attracted us to this acquisition.”

Diehl has significant experience in the food ingredients industry and has the ability to add value to customers’ finished products. “We look forward to re-introducing Diehl to customers and showing them how our flexible manufacturing, broad formulation knowledge, and new technologies can help them to create considerable value in their final products”, said Dennis Reid, the new Vice President of Sales & Marketing for Diehl Food Ingredients.

About Diehl Food Ingredients, Inc.
Diehl Food Ingredients, Inc. recently began operating after acquiring the assets of Diehl, Inc. Diehl, Inc. was founded in 1870 and over the years has had business activities in brewing, dairy processing, and specialty ingredients. The company’s current product line includes spray-dried creaming agents, whipped topping bases, fat-based powders, and specialty systems including Vitamite 1 00® and ChocoCreme® fortified non-dairy dry beverage systems. Diehl prides itself in working closely with their customers to develop both customized and proprietary systems that meet their exact ingredient needs. For more information on the new company or its products and services, please call Diehl Food Ingredients at 800-251-3033 or visit their website at www.diehlinc.com.

About Highlander Partners, L.P.
Highlander Partners, L.P., is an investment firm founded in 2004 and located in Dallas, Texas. Highlander Partners manages assets across a variety of investment types with over $100 million allocated for direct private equity investments. The firm invests in small to mid-size private companies with capable management teams, fundamentally strong operations and strong track records. These companies need capital and strategic help to “get to the next level”. Highlander Partners uses a “buy and build” investment approach, creating value through helping companies develop their business and capital allocation strategies. The firm has a limited administrative infrastructure and does not have limited partners, allowing for a flexible decision making process and a long-term investment horizon. Highlander Partners’ industries of expertise include performance chemicals and food ingredients, healthcare, basic materials and financial services.

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