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November 28, 2017
GREENWICH, CT - Southfield Capital, a leading lower middle-market private equity firm, announced today its partnership with American Refrigeration Company ("ARC" or the "Company"), the leading industrial refrigeration service provider in New England. ARC's founders, Stephen Giannelli and Michael Sirois, and the rest of the senior management team will be continuing in their current roles. ARC manages industrial refrigeration systems, including regular monitoring and repair, replacement of key system components, and in-house design and engineering. ARC's services are mission critical to its customers who rely on the Company to ensure their facilities are operating continuously and safely. The Company serves market leaders in the food and beverage, pharmaceutical and academic industries, including Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Coca-Cola and Harvard University. ARC's President, Michael Sirois, commented, "As anyone who has started and grown a company will know, bringing someone else into the fold can be a stressful decision. Stephen and I knew that we needed to find a partner that had the expertise to scale up our operation without sacrificing the customer first culture that made us the #1 industrial refrigeration contractor in New England. Following a lengthy, but necessary process, we could not be more excited to partner with Southfield Capital. The natural chemistry and shared business philosophy between our two groups made the choice obvious. Having our key employees spend time with the Southfield team has reinforced this decision and I must say the excitement is contagious!" Southfield Partner, Tim Lewis, commented on the ARC partnership, "Steve and Mike have built an exceptional business around a core of highly skilled employees and a blue chip customer base. ARC has become the leader in industrial refrigeration services throughout New England by consistently delivering high quality, mission critical services. Southfield looks forward to supporting ARC as they build out their team and expand their service offering to better serve their customers. We could not be more enthusiastic to partner with Steve and Mike as the business goes to the next stage." Abacus Finance Group, LLC provided debt financing. Finn Dixon & Herling provided legal counsel to Southfield Capital. About Southfield Capital Southfield Capital is a private equity firm that invests in exceptional, growing companies in the lower middle market. The firm makes control investments in North American companies generating $4 - 12 million in EBITDA with proven business models, attractive growth and profitability trends, and strong leadership. For more information, please visit www.southfieldcapital.com . Contact Heb James, Partner Southfield Capital (203) 813-4113 hjames@southfieldcapital.com
October 18, 2017
Tim Lewis, Partner Southfield Capital moderated a panel on Exploring LP Views of the Operating Partner Role. About Southfield Capital Southfield Capital is a private equity firm that invests in exceptional, growing companies in the lower middle market. The firm makes control investments in North American companies generating $4 - 12 million in EBITDA with proven business models, attractive growth and profitability trends, and strong leadership. For more information, please visit www.southfieldcapital.com . Contact Heb James, Partner Southfield Capital (203) 813-4113 hjames@southfieldcapital.com

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March 20, 2026
Acquisition Furthers Ongoing Growth Strategy and Positions FastLane as Integrated Growth Platform Supporting Franchisors from Concept Through Scale . Greenwich, CT – March 20, 2026 – Southfield Capital (“Southfield”), a premier lower middle market private equity firm, today announced that its portfolio company, Franchise FastLane (“FastLane” or “the Company”), a leading franchise sales organization, has completed the strategic acquisition of Franchise Creator, a premier firm specializing in identifying and guiding early-stage franchisors through concept validation, franchise readiness, and foundational growth planning. The addition of Franchise Creator allows FastLane to establish an integrated growth platform that supports franchisors from concept through scale, leveraging Franchise Creator’s strong reputation working with emerging brands at the earliest stages of their franchising journey and helping founders validate their models, prepare for franchising, and establish strong foundations for growth. As part of FastLane, Franchise Creator will continue to focus on early-stage brand identification and support, while benefiting from the scale, infrastructure, and development capabilities of the broader FastLane ecosystem, enabling it to better help founders build strong, scalable franchise models. “This acquisition represents an exciting step in FastLane’s evolution and the continued execution of our organic and targeted M&A growth strategy,” said Tim Koch, President & COO of FastLane . “In partnering with Southfield, we have set out to build more than a franchise sales organization. Franchise Creator’s best-in-class ability to identify and guide early-stage brands is a powerful complement to FastLane, and we’re excited to integrate their insights and capabilities into our platform. Through this combination, we are able to further our mission of building the first end-to-end franchise services business, capable of working with brands from their formation through maturity.” “From day one, Franchise Creator has been about helping founders turn great ideas into real, viable franchise brands,” said Hossein Kasmai, Founder of Franchise Creator. “FastLane shares that same belief, and they bring the resources, experience, and platform to help our clients go further and faster. This partnership allows us to stay true to who we are while expanding what’s possible for our team and the founders we serve.” “This acquisition aligns perfectly with FastLane’s long-term strategy of building a differentiated, vertically integrated platform across the franchising lifecycle,” said Josh Sylvan, Principal at Southfield Capital. “By expanding upstream into early-stage brand creation and readiness, FastLane is strengthening its recurring revenue profile, improving brand quality entering development, and building a more durable enterprise. We’re excited to have the opportunity to partner with Hossein and the Franchise Creator team to continue building on the Company’s momentum and strengthening both its market position and ability to serve franchisors and founders across the country.” TPG Twin Brook provided debt financing. Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP provided legal counsel to FastLane and Southfield. Boxwood Partners acted as the exclusive financial advisor to Franchise Creator. About Southfield Capital Southfield Capital is a premier private equity firm with a foundational commitment to driving value at high-growth, lower middle market companies in the business services sector. The firm leverages its deep team of highly-experienced investment, technology and value-creation professionals, combined with fully-integrated AI-driven capabilities to partner with founders and manager-owned teams. For more information, please visit www.southfieldcapital.com About Franchise FastLane Franchise FastLane provides franchise development services. It manages the entire franchisee sales lifecycle from initial lead generation to prospect qualification through to deal closure. FastLane works with franchisors to perfect their discovery process, bring qualified franchisee leads, and drive strong growth. FastLane leverages a rigorous diligence and onboarding process, industry-leading technology platform, and exceptional sales executives to drive successful franchise development for its franchisor clients. For more information, please visit www.franchisefastlane.com About Franchise Creator Franchise Creator specializes in identifying and guiding early-stage franchisors through concept validation, franchise readiness, and foundational growth planning, helping founders build strong, scalable franchise models and provides back-end services like bookkeeping and marketing. For more information, please visit www.franchisecreator.com  Investor Contact Jason Perlroth Principal, Head of Business Development, Southfield Capital Email: jperlroth@southfieldcapital.com Tel: 203 813 4117 Media Contact Taylor Ingraham / Max Rayden Email: tingraham@ascadvisors.com / mrayden@ascadvisors.com Tel: 203 992 1230
southfield capital acquires Contextual.ai to provide value creation
January 26, 2026
AI-driven Full-Service Business Contextual.io Complements Southfield Capital's Mission to Enhance Value Creation for Founders and Manager-Owners