LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - October 15, 2008) - Vicente Capital Partners today announced that it has successfully raised $150 million for its Growth Equity Fund and is actively pursuing investment opportunities with businesses poised for growth. Vicente Capital Partners is a new Los Angeles-based investment firm established by a senior team of private equity investors with more than 35 years of combined direct growth equity investing experience from their tenure at Kline Hawkes & Co.

Investors in Vicente Capital Partners' private equity fund include some of the nation's premier institutional investors, including CalPERS, Fairview Capital, JP Morgan Asset Mgmt. & Affiliates, LACERS, LA Fire and Police Pensions, New Mexico ERB, New Mexico State Investment Council, New York Common and Teachers' Retirement System (IL). The firm's principals have greatly expanded their investor base by securing approximately two-thirds of the LP capital from new LP relationships.

"We are excited to be working with Vicente Capital Partners," said Leon Shahinian, Senior Investment Officer at CalPERS. "We have backed the Fund's leadership team in the past and believe that they have a unique investment strategy that offers us an exceptional opportunity."

"We see excellent investment opportunities in today's capital-starved lower middle market, and look forward to bringing our resources and expertise to help grow this high-potential business segment," said Jay Ferguson, Vicente Capital Partners Managing Partner. "We are very pleased to have attracted such a high caliber group of investors to leverage this opportunity."

Vicente Capital Partners has three Managing Partners, Jay Ferguson, Klaus Koch and Nicholas Memmo. The leadership team also includes Principals Alain Rothstein and David Casares, who have significant investment and operational experience. Jason Beck, Associate, recently joined the team and also brings operational experience. The core investment team has worked together managing two prior growth equity funds and has completed 29 growth equity investments to date -- including LivHOME, Rent.com (acquired by eBay), Overture (acquired by Yahoo!), Vermont Composites, Cogent Communications (NASDAQ: CCOI), CaseStack, Rayne Corporation, Transoft Networks (acquired by Hewlett-Packard), and Sensor Systems. Ferguson and Memmo continue to serve as General Partners of Kline Hawkes Pacific LP.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Vicente Capital Partners invests between $5 million and $15 million in privately held growth businesses across North America and builds them in partnership with management teams. The firm specializes in both non-control and control equity investments in companies with $2 million to $25 million in revenues with the potential to achieve $50 million in revenues over a five-year period. Vicente Capital Partners focuses on established companies in diverse business sectors including: Business Services (outsourced services, Internet services, telecom services); Consumer Services (healthcare services, residential delivery, education); and Specialty Manufacturing (aerospace & defense, environmental products, networking/telecom equipment). For more information about Vicente Capital Partners, please visit www.vicentecapital.com.