Spanx, Inc. makes footless and footed hosiery, tights, and body shapers to give its customers a slim and smooth look with any style shoe. Spanx also sells bras (Bra-llelujah!), slips (Hide & Sleek), panties (Power Panties), and lined apparel (Bod-a-Bing!). The firm's products are sold at such retailers as Nordstrom, Saks Fifth Avenue, Lord & Taylor, and Bloomingdale's. Discounter Target developed ASSETS (bodyshaping hosiery) with Spanx in 2006; they're also sold at www.loveassets.com. Company founder Sara Blakely is credited with inventing footless pantyhose. In 1998, she founded Spanx with $5,000 of her own savings and patented her footless body-shaping pantyhose.

MBI Inc. direct marketing company offers a multitude of collectible items that range from porcelain Shirley Temple dolls and a sculpture of the ill-fated RMS Titanic to official First Day of Issue covers for new US stamps, die-cast sports cars, jewelry, and leather-bound books. The items generally are accompanied by monthly payment installment plans. MBI creates and markets more than 500 new products each year under its Danbury Mint, The Easton Press, and The Postal Commemorative Society divisions. It is one of the leading magazine advertisers in the US and has a mailing list of more than 10 million names.

Milestone AV Technologies, a Duchossois Group Company, is a leading designer, marketer and distributor of branded audio visual mounting equipment and display solutions for flat panel displays, projectors, AV furniture, and speakers to both the consumer and the commercial markets.Their innovative products, sold principally under the Chief and Sanus brand names, are sold through numerous channels, including Pro AV dealers, regional home theater dealers, consumer electronics retailers, mass merchants and original equipment manufacturers. The Company currently serves a broad base of over 4,500 global customers with a US headquarters just outside of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Cherokee Inc. markets, licenses and manages their owned brands, which include Cherokee, Sideout, Carole Little, Chorus Line, Saint Tropez West and All That Jazz brands, as well as represents other brands in various consumer product categories such as apparel, home, food, fashion accessories and footwear and recreational products. The brands that Cherokee owns and represent generate over $4 billion in annual retail sales worldwide. The Company’s principal focus is global “retail direct” licensing. The Company has partnered with many well-known retailers throughout the world to provide consumers with well-known brands at affordable prices. These global retailers include Target Stores, Wal-Mart Stores, TJX Companies, Tesco Plc, Zellers (Hudson Bay Company), Grupo Eroski, Comercial Mexicana, Pao de Acucar, Tottus Stores (Falabella), Arvind Mills, Shufersal, Geant (Al Hokair) and Pick ’n Pay. The Company’s retail licensing partners license these well-known brands, and receive the exclusive right to sell branded merchandise in their geographic areas.The Cherokee brand, which began as a footwear brand in 1973, is one of the preeminent global family lifestyle brands with annual retail sales approaching $3.0 Billion worldwide. Sideout is a young active lifestyle brand, which was acquired by the Company in the late 1990’s. In addition, in 2002 the Company acquired the trademarks for Carole Little, a well-regarded women’s wear brand, and Chorus Line, All that Jazz and Saint Tropez West, three women’s sportswear brands. The Company seeks to develop relationships and strategies that benefit its retail and wholesale partners through licensing arrangements both in the U.S. as well as throughout the world.

Biotage AB is a leading supplier of tools and technology for Medicinal and Analytical Chemistry and process Development. The company’s organizational structure has historically been comprised of two divisions: Discovery Chemistry and Biosystems. The Biosystems division was divested to QIAGEN effective as of 2 October 2008. Biotage was acting as a distributor of the Biosystems products during Q4 2008. Biosystems products contains Pyrosequencing systems for genetic analysis, PyroMark products for methylation, SNP and mutation analysis and Pyro Gold reagents.Following the divestment of Biosystem, Biotage is focused on forther developing and enhancing its Discovery Chemistry business. Discovery Chemistry supplies products and services for three prominent market segments, Medicinal Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry and Process Development. Primary products include microwave synthesis, resins and solid phase extraction (SPE), flash purification cartridges and systems, evaporation and reaction screening instruments, which target chemists in research organizations worldwide.

Acorn Powell Limited specialise in the manufacture and supply of Stainless Steel products. Their expertise covers a broad spectrum of building technologies, regulations and applications. Recent major projects have included washroom facilities for numerous schools, supermarket plumbing systems for Waitrose, fitting out a major shipyard in the Middle East and facilities for an army barracks complex.Acorn Powell equips everything from prisons to high-end hotels with its wide range of stainless steel appliances and fixtures. Its sinks, urinals, toilets, drinking fountains, kitchenettes, wash basins, and other plumbing systems are used in in commercial, residential, and institutional applications. The company distributes seven lines: Apinox Range, Neo-Metro, Whitehall Manufacturing, Acorn Aqua, Murdock Drinking Fountains, AcornVac, and Intra. Acorn Powell does business online and though mail order, but it also has a showroom at its Gloucester offices.

PPG Industries is a leader in its markets; is a streamlined, efficient manufacturer; and operates on the leading edge of new technologies and solutions. It is their vision to continue being the world’s leading coatings and specialty products and services company, serving customers in construction, consumer products, industrial and transportation markets and aftermarkets. PPG has manufacturing facilities and equity affiliates in more than 60 countries around the globe.Coatings -- such as paints (sold under the Pittsburgh Paints, Lucite, and Monarch brands), stains (Olympic), and sealants that help protect surfaces -- account for most of its sales; the remainder comes from glass and chemicals. PPG's glass offerings include flat glass for buildings, fabricated glass, and continuous-strand fiberglass used in aircraft and buildings. PPG's chemicals segment makes chlor-alkali chemicals. The company operates more than 130 manufacturing facilities worldwide; it also operates 450 retail centers in the US. PPG greatly enhanced its European operations in 2008 by buying SigmaKalon from Bain Capital for $3 billion.

The Alexander Doll Company (ADC) was founded 80 years ago by Madame Beatrice Alexander Behrman, the daughter of Russian immigrants. She was raised over her father's doll hospital—the first in America—and often played with the dolls waiting to be mended. Her love of dolls led this dynamic woman to creating her own line of dolls.The company manufactures a variety of dolls, including collectibles and play dolls, in addition to its signature line of Madame Alexander Dolls. The firm sells its products through several thousand specialty retailers, as well as online through its company Web site. Alexander Doll Company also provides its customers with repair services through its Doll Hospital. Founded by Madame Beatrice Alexander the company was acquired by the private capital fund, Kaizen Breakthrough Partnership in 1995.

Optovision sells lens coating equipment and provides outsourced lens coating services to the ophthalmic industry in the US and abroad. Its Optovac division sells self-contained vacuum coating labs while the Optomart unit provides on-site management of lens coating operations. The company also carries its own inventory of stock lenses and offers specialty services like anti-reflective and mirror coating. Customers include Benedict Optical and Wal-Mart. Founded in 1989, Optovision Technologies has offices in the US and Italy. It is owned by president Peter Zuccarelli and vice president Vince Mioli.

Crane Co. is a diversified manufacturer of highly engineered industrial products with a substantial presence in a number of focused niche markets. With approximately 12,000 employees working together in five business segments across 25 countries, Crane generated 2008 net sales of $2.6 billion.Crane is committed to the highest standards of business conduct. Within that framework, their objective is to grow Economic Value Added (EVA) by continuing to transition to a more integrated operating company. They strive to create value for all their stakeholders with a highly disciplined approach to materially strengthening our businesses through successful implementation of the Crane Business System, through strategic linkages among their businesses, and through utilization of strong free cash flow for strategic acquisitions.

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