L Squared Expands GSI Group Platform with Acquisition of Aven Tools

Aven Tools represents GSI Group's fifth acquisition, bolstering GSI Group's global platform with proprietary precision tools and instruments serving medical device, research laboratory, and industrial electronics markets

Newport Beach, CA - GSI Group Holdings ("GSI Group") announces it has acquired Aven Tools, a leading designer and manufacturer of proprietary precision tools, instruments, and accessories. Aven Tools has become the newest addition to GSI Group's growing family of branded laboratory workflow tools serving the life sciences, research & development, industrial, and academia & education markets.GSI Group provides a wide range of essential laboratory consumables, precision workflow tools and instruments, and related accessories. The platform has built a global reach, with locations across the U.S., Europe, and Asia, and the business collectively serves customers in more than 100 countries. Today, thousands of leading research institutions, diagnostic laboratories, hospitals, universities, and industrial organizations depend on GSI Group products to support their daily operations. Aven Tools joins existing GSI Group brands including Globe Scientific, AmScope, Euromex, and GenesisBPS.

For more than 45 years, Aven Tools has been a trusted provider of proprietary precision tools and accessories. Its patented product portfolio - spanning digital microscopes, stereo microscopes, LED illumination, cameras, tweezers, magnifiers, and other hand tools - is distributed through a national network of dealers to leading OEMs and research institutions across North America and internationally.

"Aven Tools is an outstanding strategic fit for GSI," said Jon Brubaker, CEO of GSI Group. "Its differentiated portfolio of proprietary precision tools and accessories deepens our presence across industrial electronics and medical device workflows and expands our reach through a well-established dealer network. Aven's loyal, long-tenured customer base and high-margin, repeat-purchase product mix are highly complementary to everything we have built across the GSI platform. We remain committed to accelerating GSI's growth through both organic initiatives and additional acquisitions of leading brands."

"We are thrilled to support the continued expansion of GSI Group," said Randall Hunt, Managing Partner at L Squared Capital Partners. "Aven is another proof point of GSI's M&A playbook in action. GSI has built a platform where the whole is demonstrably greater than the sum of its parts - a track record that has earned GSI the reputation as the buyer of choice in the large, highly fragmented global lab products market. We see significant runway ahead."

The addition of Aven Tools further strengthens GSI Group's position as the premier one-stop shop for laboratories worldwide. With complementary product lines, strong cross-sell potential across all GSI brands, and an established base of 1,000+ loyal customers built over four-plus decades, Aven Tools is a natural extension of the GSI platform. GSI Group will continue its strategy of acquiring leading brands across North America and Europe.

For Additional Information Please Contact:

Randall HuntManaging [email protected]

Brian [email protected]

Casey JonesSenior [email protected]

About L Squared Capital Partners
L Squared Capital Partners is a private equity investment firm headquartered in Newport Beach, CA, with approximately $5.3 billion of historical cumulative capital commitments that seeks to make long-term investments in leading growth companies operating in targeted sectors: Education Technology, Technology-Enabled Services & Software, and Industrial Technology & Services. L Squared's unique investor base of family offices and institutions enables the Firm to focus on long-term value creation driven by revenue and earnings growth, not financial engineering or market timing. The principals of L Squared have worked together for nearly 20 years, investing in growing private companies. For more information, please visit www.LSquaredCap.com.

About GSI Group Holdings
GSI Group Holdings is a US-based holding company of leading branded laboratory consumables and benchtop equipment for the scientific, academic, and industrial communities. GSI Group has an unmatched geographic footprint with locations on both the east and west coasts of the US as well as offices in the Netherlands, Spain, and China, supporting sales in over 100 countries. Our mission is to leverage our unmatched supply chain and award-winning customer service to offer our partners in distribution and end users the most comprehensive product portfolio of laboratory consumables, benchtop equipment, and accessories at competitive prices. For additional information, please visit www.GSIgroupholdings.com.

This press release is for informational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice or an offer or solicitation with respect to the purchase of any investment. Investing with any investment firm is suitable only for qualified investors that fully understand the risks of such an investment. L Squared Capital Partners is an investment adviser registered with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission. Investments with L Squared Capital Partners are only offered in accordance with applicable securities laws.