The Caisse and the Québec Manufacturing Fund invest in Québec company Liberty Spring

Supporting international development and creating 30 jobs in the Québec City region

MONTREAL , Feb. 20, 2012 /CNW Telbec/ - The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and the Québec Manufacturing Fund (QMF) announced an investment in Liberty Spring Inc., one of North America's largest manufacturers of high precision springs.

" Liberty Spring is one of the best kept secrets in the Québec City region: it's a well established company in Montmagny that operates plants in Mexico , China and Toronto and its products can be found worldwide. Now that's one fine example of a Québec company that was able to retain its technical expertise in Québec while ensuring its growth in the international arena," explained Normand Provost , Executive Vice-President, Private Equity and Chief Operations Officer at the Caisse. "We are pleased to support the growth of such a successful company."

A 20,000-square foot plant expansion and automation projects are slated to step up the company's production capacity and support increased sales. The investment by the Caisse and the QMF also enable the succession team to increase its share ownership in the company.

"The QMF's expertise will be harnessed to support the company in its growth projects and help position its new product lines globally," said Claude Couvrette, Partner at the Québec Manufacturing Fund. "We will also be mandated to support the succession team throughout the transition."

"Having the Caisse and the QMF as partners means benefitting both from an international network and expertise in corporate development, which will enable us to maximize Liberty Spring's growth potential—here and globally," explained Richard Guimont, President of Liberty Spring . These partners will also enable us to ensure the long-term development of our company, which manufactures and exports more than one million springs every week."

ABOUT LIBERTY SPRING INC.
Liberty Spring is a world class spring manufacturer specialized in the area of custom high precision springs and has been involved in the automotive, aerospace and recreational vehicle industries for 25 years. The company, whose head office is located in Montmagny, has distinguished itself internationally through innovation, extensive flexibility and the quality of its springs. In addition to its main Montmagny plant, Liberty Spring has three other manufacturing sites—in China , Mexico and Toronto . The company manufactures and exports more than a million springs every week and one out of every two vehicles in the world has a spring manufactured by Liberty Spring in it. http://www.libertyspring.com.

ABOUT THE CAISSE DE DÉPÔT ET PLACEMENT DU QUÉBEC
The Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is a financial institution that manages funds primarily for public and private pension and insurance plans. As at December 31, 2010 , it held $151.7 billion in net assets. As one of Canada's leading institutional fund managers, the Caisse invests in major financial markets, private equity and real estate. For more information: http://www.lacaisse.com.

ABOUT THE QUÉBEC MANUFACTURING FUND
The $100-million Québec Manufacturing Fund L.P., sponsored by the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, is an investment partnership that has a mandate to identify profitable Québec manufacturing companies that present attractive business opportunities and have the potential to quickly make significant improvements to their operations. The QMF combines the financial expertise of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec with the corporate development expertise of experienced managers. The Fund assists entrepreneurs in Québec's manufacturing sector with their projects by providing financing and expertise for business development, operations management and financial management.www.fondsmanufacturier.com.

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The Caisse and the Québec Manufacturing Fund invest in Québec company Liberty Spring