H.I.G. Capital Acquires Stream International from Solectron

March 22, 2004 – H.I.G. Capital, a leading private equity firm, and ECE Holdings, Inc. (ECE), a leading global provider of outsourced technical support and customer service, announced today that they have signed a definitive agreement with Solectron Corporation (NYSE: SLR) to acquire its contact services subsidiary, Stream International.

The acquisition will provide ECE with a 100% ownership of Stream and is expected to close in approximately 30 days. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Stream generated in excess of $250 Million of revenues in 2003.

Both ECE and Stream are recognized as leading providers of technical support and customer service outsourcing to high-technology companies. Both outsourcers provide services to some of the world’s most respected PC software publishers, Internet service providers and hardware manufacturers.

“Teaming up with Stream means the potential for providing an even higher level of service to our clients,” said Toni Portman, President and CEO of ECE. “It enables the two companies to grow our businesses globally, share best practices and tools, as well as offer clients a truly global footprint for their own growth. Our synergies of serving the high-tech industry provide for continued excellence in customer service and best-of-class outsourcing. Both ECE and Stream will continue to impact our clients’ businesses with high levels of customer satisfaction and the operational efficiencies to provide those clients with even greater customer loyalty.”

“H.I.G. is pleased to add Stream International to its family of investments. Combining Stream with ECE will give the two companies a global reach of 19 contact centers, a combined capacity of over 10,000 seats, and additional capacity for growth,” said Rick Rosen, Managing Director at H.I.G. Capital. “Both of these outsourcers have robust business models, great management and operations teams, and blue chip clients.”

H.I.G.’s investment strategy has demonstrated its commitment to the contact services industry and will continue to grow the businesses through investment capital for additional expansion.

H.I.G. Capital

H.I.G. Capital is a leading private equity and venture capital investment firm with more than $1.5 billion of equity capital under management. Based in Miami, Florida, and with offices in Atlanta, Boston, and San Francisco, H.I.G. specializes in providing capital to small and medium-sized companies with attractive growth potential. H.I.G. invests in management-led buyouts and recapitalizations of well-established, profitable, and well-managed manufacturing or service businesses, and in promising early-stage technology companies. Since its founding, H.I.G. has made more than fifty highly successful investments, acquiring companies with combined revenues in excess of $5 billion.