Alarian Associates Inc. Purchases First Response, Inc., a Dominant Provider of Environmental Services in the Middle South to Serve as a Platform for Expansion in the Southeast

New York –Davian Ploger, former CEO of Environmental Services & Health, Inc. backed by Alarian Associates, Inc and C3 Capital, LLC purchased First Response, Inc., a diversified environmental services company located in Goodlettsville, TN, a suburb of Nashville, TN. First Response Inc. also provides remediation and industrial services as well as transportation services to the middle south and was founded in 1986 by William Ferguson and Bill Helton who remain with the company.

First Response is an OSRO (Oil Spill Removal Organization) as designated by the United States Coast Guard and has special expertise in interior demolition and remediation of health care facilities including hospitals and nursing homes where specialty equipment and expertise are required to mitigate airborne contaminants. The company also has substantial experience in on-site treatment of contaminated soils, storage tank removal, and facility closures. The company recently deployed nearly 300 people to the Gulf of Mexico to support the British Petroleum oil spill.

Mr. Ploger, 37 and an equity investor in First Response, was sponsored by Alarian Associates, Inc. a private equity group in New York. He joined Alarian in March 2009 as CEO-in-Residence to pursue the acquisition of a platform company in environmental and industrial services. As former CEO of ES&H Inc., the dominant emergency response organization in southwestern Louisiana headquartered in Houma, he developed and executed the ES&H, Inc strategic and operational growth plan and advanced the company's successful brand and marketing initiatives. He holds an undergraduate degree in Psychology and a MBA form Southeastern Louisiana University and will complete the Harvard Business School Executive Education for Owner/President Management in 2011. He has relocated his wife and two children to Hendersonville, TN.

Alarian Associates Retirement Plan provided the majority of the equity financing. C3 Capital, LLC, based in Kansas City, MO, provided the mezzanine debt for the transaction. Alarian Associates, Inc. makes equity investments in the lower middle market with total enterprise values between $5 million and $60 million. C3 Capital manages two funds (C3 Capital Partners I and II) with approximately $250 million in assets that provide capital for businesses to finance later stage growth, strategic acquisitions, ownership transitions, and recapitalizations. The funds are licensed as Small Business Investment Companies. The transaction closed in June.