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The Crypton® Companies Acquired By Berkley Capital

WRB | April 3, 2017

The Crypton ^® Companies Acquired By Berkley Capital

The Crypton Companies (Crypton LLC & Nanotex LLC), leading providers of performance fabrics in the contract, home furnishings and apparel markets, today announced that Berkley Capital, LLC has acquired a majority stake.

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Berkley Capital will become majority owners of the new entity to be formed from the acquisition. Company co-founders Craig and Randy Rubin, and Lance Keziah, president of The Crypton Companies, will retain minority ownership. Craig and Randy Rubin will carry the titles of Founder and Vice Chairman of the new company, with Randy serving as primary brand ambassador and Craig will continue to advise the company in the areas of research and development and plant processing. Keziah will assume the role as CEO and will manage all aspects of the business.

Berkley Capital is the private equity investment vehicle of W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB), a Fortune 500 property and casualty insurance company. In addition to capital, Berkley brings management expertise to guide Crypton and Nanotex as it expands its global reach.

Frank Medici, president of Berkley Capital will become Chairman of the Board of the new company, while Berkley Capital Managing Director Thomas Ghegan will be a Director along with Lance Keziah and Craig Rubin.

The new company will continue to be headquartered in Bloomfield Hills, MI, maintain operations from its state-of-the art research and manufacturing plant in Kings Mountain, NC, and continue with its operations in Hong Kong.

The move significantly enhances the growth strategy of Crypton and Nanotex and enables the company to bring greater value to its clients as it looks to dramatically expand sales. This investment will allow for more expansion in new business lines and applications for both the Crypton and Nanotex businesses.

“By partnering with Berkley Capital, we will be able to accelerate our goal of making our brands household names,” says Randy Rubin. “We see this as an amazing opportunity for our company and will enable us to reach our full potential. I look forward to continuing my role as a Brand Ambassador to maximize our growth.”

“Berkley brings with them a deep knowledge and vision of where our company could go in its next stage of growth, so it was an ideal scenario to partner with them to move our company forward along the existing business lines now and for future ones under development,” says Craig Rubin.

“This is a very exciting time for our company and employees. Berkley is a great partner that fits well with our culture and growth initiatives. I look forward to leading the company and closely working with the Berkley team to accelerate our growth strategy and continuing to bring value to our customers,” said Lance Keziah.

“We chose to partner with Crypton and Nanotex because of their global reputation for performance and strong brand recognition,” says Berkley Capital President Frank Medici. “By working with their established and proven management team, Berkley will be able to build upon the strong foundation that the Crypton team have built and help bring the organization to its next evolution in producing performance products for the home, contract, apparel and other businesses.”

Adds Berkley Managing Director Thomas Ghegan, “Craig, Randy and the rest of the talented management team have built a company that is synonymous with performance from its employees to its products. We are excited to work with this innovation-oriented team that is committed to continuing to lead the textile industry by producing top-quality performance fabrics and technologies.”

About The Crypton Companies

The Crypton Companies have patented and branded environmentally responsible textile performance solutions since 1993. The company’s flagship product, CRYPTON^® Fabric, revolutionized the use of fabrics in the healthcare, hospitality, government, education and contract segments. Crypton Home^® fabric is a leading provider of fabrics for the home furnishing industry and available at national retailers. In 2013, Crypton acquired Nanotex^®, which was among the first to market nanotechnology solutions for textiles. Since that time, Nanotex technology has been significantly enhanced, and is being re-launched to the apparel markets through a new integrated marketing and promotion campaign. For more information on The Crypton Companies, please visit www.crypton.com and for Nanotex, please visit www.nanotex.com.

About Berkley Capital

Berkley Capital is the private equity investment subsidiary of W. R. Berkley Corporation (NYSE: WRB), a Fortune 500 property and casualty insurance company with an investment portfolio in excess of $15.0 billion. Since 2002, Berkley Capital has successfully partnered with numerous companies in the financial, healthcare, aviation and business services sectors. Berkley Capital has a differentiated ability to tailor its investments to a company's specific situation and accesses an “evergreen” source of capital.