CamelBak Named Backpacker Magazine's 2007 Gold Award Winner

CamelBak Products LLC, the world leader in hydration systems, has been honored as the winner of the 2007 Backpacker Magazine Editors’ Choice Gold Award for its OMEGAâ„¢ HydroTaniumâ„¢ Reservoir. The most prestigious award in the outdoor industry, the Backpacker Magazine Gold Award is given annually in recognition of outstanding innovation in design, materials and/or performance. The CamelBak OMEGAâ„¢ HydroTaniumâ„¢ Reservoir was the only product given a Gold Award this year.

“We’re incredibly honored to be recognized by the editors at Backpacker,” said Mac Tillman, VP of Marketing and Product Management for CamelBak. “It is exciting and gratifying to see our commitment to innovation acknowledged with the prestigious Editor’s Choice Gold
Award.”

Backpacker Editor-In-Chief Jonathan Dorn and his staff of editors and testers presented CamelBak with the Gold award at the annual Outdoor Retailer Winter Market in Salt Lake City.

“Backpacker Magazine’s Editor’s Choice Gold award honors outdoor products that have performed at the highest level in the field and stood the test of time,” said Peter Flax, Executive Editor of Backpacker. “Only the best, most innovative, and most tried-and-true products are recognized in Backpacker’s gear hall of fame.”

The Backpacker Editors’ Choice Awards, bestowed annually since 1993, honor the products that Backpacker editors have chosen as the best of the year based on months of trail testing by teams of highly experienced hikers and climbers. With no set categories for the awards and no set number of recipients, the products and the testing process drive the award categories.

About CamelBak
CamelBak Products, LLC. is the originator of the Hands-Free Hydration system. Since 1991, CamelBak’s state of the art packs and hydration systems have benefited athletes, outdoor enthusiasts, and soldiers around the world. CamelBak continues to deliver innovative hydration products to the market with the belief in the performance advantage that proper hydration can deliver in any situation. The company is a privately held portfolio company of Bear Stearns Merchant Banking (BSMB) and is headquartered in Petaluma, California.

About BSMB
BSMB, the private equity affiliate of The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE: BSC), invests private equity capital in compelling leveraged buyouts, recapitalizations and growth capital opportunities alongside superior management teams. Since its formation in 1997, BSMB has been an investor in over 50 portfolio companies across a broad range of industries. Recent investments by BSMB include: ACA Capital Holdings, Aearo Technologies (exited in 2006), Balducci’s, CamelBak Products, Cavalry Investments, Churchill Financial Holdings, Hand Innovations (exited in 2006), Multi Packaging Solutions, New York & Company (NYSE: NWY), Reddy Ice (NYSE: FRZ), Seven For All Mankind, Stuart Weitzman, Transamerican Auto Parts Company and Vitamin Shoppe. More information about BSMB can be found at www.bsmb.com.