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Quench Swallows $38.5M in Growth Financing

2014-01-15
KING OF PRUSSIA, PA, Largest independent provider of filtered drinking water and ice dispensers in North America, announced today that it has secured $38.5 million in equity and debt financing.
Quench, the largest independent provider of filtered drinking water and ice dispensers in North America, announced today that it has secured $38.5 million in equity and debt financing. New investor T. Rowe Price joins existing Quench investors Element Partners, Virgin Green Fund, Douglas Brown, ORIX Ventures, Advent-Morro Equity Partners, Potomac Energy Fund and The Pohlad Companies.

'We are uniquely positioned to capitalize on the growing popularity of filtered water, as well as on the value businesses are placing on more economical and environmentally-friendly practices,' said Quench CEO Tony Ibarguen. 'We intend to use these funds to invest in organic sales and strategic acquisitions over the coming year.'

'Our investment group is excited to continue supporting the growth and success of Quench,' said Douglas Brown, Quench's Chairman of the Board, 'and we are glad to have the support of our newest investment partner, T. Rowe Price.'

Hugh Evans, who led the investment for T. Rowe Price, added, 'Quench is a very attractive platform, having developed a unique market position and recurring revenue business model in the fast-growing water services industry.'

About Quench
Headquartered outside Philadelphia, Quench is a clean-technology company that rents and services 'bottle-less' water filtration systems (also known as point-of-use water coolers) and ice dispensers for businesses and institutions across North America. Quench systems purify tap water, providing a more cost-effective and environmentally-responsible solution than delivery of water in 5-gallon plastic jugs. With an installed base of over 27,000 customers across 49 states, Mexico, Canada and the Caribbean, Quench is the largest independent bottle-less water company in North America. For more information, please visit http://www.quenchonline.com.

About T. Rowe Price
Founded in 1937, Baltimore-based T. Rowe Price Group, Inc. is a global investment management organization with $647.2 billion in assets under management as of September 30, 2013. The organization provides a broad array of mutual funds, sub-advisory services, and separate account management for individual and institutional investors, retirement plans, and financial intermediaries. The company also offers sophisticated investment planning and guidance tools. T. Rowe Price's disciplined, risk-aware investment approach focuses on diversification, style consistency, and fundamental research. For more information, please visit http://www.troweprice.com.

About Element Partners
Element Partners invests in high growth companies offering innovative solutions to global energy, resource, and environmental problems. Element is a growth equity investor that is willing to make minority equity investments and become a long-term partner with pioneering companies. Since 1995, Element's team has successfully managed over $1.2 billion in capital commitments spanning six investment partnerships. These partnerships have all been focused on investing in profitable and growing energy, industrial, and environmental related businesses. Over the course of more than fifteen years, the principals of Element have collectively invested in over 100 companies. For more information, please visit http://www.elementpartners.com.

About Virgin Green Fund
Virgin Green Fund ('VGF') is a leading growth capital investor targeting companies in the renewable energy and resource efficiency sectors, primarily in the United States and Europe. Virgin Green Fund seeks to help management teams increase the value of growing businesses by utilizing its equity, experience and global networks to help companies realize their market potential. In doing so, VGF works collaboratively with its portfolio companies, bringing to bear the operational expertise and financial acumen of the VGF Team to help management teams think critically about strategic issues such as market positioning, recruiting, acquisitions and financings. Virgin Green Fund has been launched with the backing of Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group and a strong network of additional limited partners. For more information, please visit http://www.virgingreenfund.com.

About ORIX Ventures
ORIX Ventures provides customized financial solutions to mid- and late-stage growth companies with established customers and run-rate revenues of $10 million or greater. ORIX Ventures is capable of leading debt or private equity transactions with total commitments as high as $50 million. Since its inception in 2001, ORIX Ventures has invested more than $1 billion across more than 100 growth companies throughout the U.S. and Canada. For more information on ORIX Ventures, visit us at http://www.orixventures.com. ORIX Ventures is a subsidiary of ORIX USA, a Dallas-based financial conglomerate with more than 1,100 employees and primary offices in Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, Columbus and Minneapolis. ORIX USA holds approximately $5 billion of assets and manages an additional $30 billion. ORIX USA is a wholly owned subsidiary of ORIX Corporation, a Tokyo-based, publicly owned international financial services company with operations in 34 countries and regions worldwide. For more information on ORIX USA, visit http://www.orix.com.

About Advent-Morro Equity Partners
Advent-Morro Equity Partners is the leading U.S. private equity firm based in Puerto Rico and focuses on expansion capital and lower middle market buyouts predominantly targeted at companies led by Hispanic management teams or companies targeting the U.S. Hispanic and Latin American markets. Since its inception in 1989, Advent-Morro has invested in more than 40 companies, generating in aggregate over $3.5 billion in annual revenues and employing more than 3,000 people, making a significant contribution to economic development in the markets where those companies operate. For more information, please visit http://www.adventmorro.com.

About Potomac Energy Fund
Located near Washington, D.C., the Potomac Energy Fund invests in leading companies across four broad themes: alternative energy, energy efficiency, infrastructure development and resource management. The Fund is sponsored by Potomac Asset Management Company, which has been making and managing private equity and mezzanine debt investments since 1995 and investing in clean technology since 2002. For more information on the Potomac Energy Fund, please visit http://www.potomacenergyfund.com.

About Pohlad Family Capital Fund
The Pohlad Family Capital Fund was created and fully funded in 2010 by the Pohlad family as a permanent capital base with the sole focus of non-control equity investments in private companies. PFCF brings 20+ years of broad transaction experience, a team oriented approach to investing, and a strong network of trusted advisors, professionals and investors, to offer more than just capital. Their family office background provides a unique investment perspective which differentiates PFCF from other financial partners. This background has been shaped through a storied history of entrepreneurial success in building, owning and operating companies in a number of different industries. Since the 1950's, Carl R. Pohlad and his family have invested in and built a diverse set of businesses encompassing banking, financial services, commercial real estate, retail, automotive, entertainment and technology industries, as well as ownership of Major League Baseball's Minnesota Twins. For more information, please visit http://www.pohladcompanies.com.
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