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By Richard PiercePublished On: March 8, 2010

FOCUS Investment Banking Represents QORE in Business Sale

Washington DC (March 8, 2010) – FOCUS LLC, a national middle market investment banking firm providing merger, acquisition, divestiture and corporate finance services, announced today that QORE, Inc. has been acquired by S&ME, Inc. FOCUS represented QORE Property Sciences in this transaction.

As a leading regional provider of geotechnical and environmental engineering services, QORE, headquartered in Atlanta, works with clients in a wide range of industries including energy and utilities, public sector, industrial and manufacturing, insurance and real estate. QORE’s services are a vital part of nonresidential construction activity and enable clients to incorporate complex soil and other geologic considerations into their building design processes, comply with environmental regulations and ensure that materials used in the construction process meet pre-contracted specifications.

S&ME, founded in 1973 in Raleigh, is one of the Southeast’s most respected engineering firms. Its major service lines include geotechnical engineering; construction materials engineering and testing; environmental services, occupational health and safety; water resources and solid waste engineering; and natural and cultural resources.

Approximately 260 former QORE employees joined S&ME, increasing the company’s employment to 1,000. This staff will work from 28 offices in North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Kentucky, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia.

According to Rich Pierce, managing director at FOCUS, “This transaction unites two strong engineering and environmental service firms in the Southeastern U.S. to create a single regional leader that can leverage a talented professional workforce and deep expertise in key industry verticals to position itself for future growth.”

QORE President and CEO, Bill Johnson adds, “The combined company will benefit from significant economies of scale and expanded geographic reach within its core Southeastern market. QORE shareholders benefit by becoming part of a large, financially stable company with a similar commitment to quality while receiving liquidity for their investment.”

SM&E’s acquisition of QORE, Inc. comes on the heels of FOCUS’ recent representation of Verify Solutions in its acquisition by HMS Holdings.

About FOCUS LLC

FOCUS LLC provides a range of middle market investment banking services with an emphasis on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and corporate finance. FOCUS is a national firm serving clients from offices in major cities across the United States. FOCUS specializes in business units with transactions or revenues in the $5-300 million range, serving entrepreneurs, corporate owners and various types of investors across a broad range of industries, throughout the U.S. and worldwide. FOCUS bankers are seasoned operating and financial executives with extensive transaction experience. Securities transactions conducted by FOCUS Securities LLC, an affiliated company, registered Broker Dealer member FINRA/SIPC. For more information on FOCUS, visit www.focusbankers.com.

Rich Pierce, FOCUS Managing Director, has more than 20 years of investment banking experience advising middle market clients on a variety of mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions. During that time, Mr. Pierce’s primary emphasis has been on serving clients in the telecommunications industry including providers of network related hardware and software products, wireless and wireline telecommunications service providers and network engineering and construction companies. Prior to joining FOCUS, Mr. Pierce was a Director in the Communications and Media group of Stifel Nicolaus, a nationally recognized middle market investment bank. In this capacity he led Stifel Nicolaus’ entry into the networking technology space while also working with clients in a variety of other telecommunications-related areas. Mr. Pierce was also a member of the Telecommunications group at Legg Mason. While at Legg Mason he gained significant experience working with telecommunications service providers, particularly those serving secondary and rural markets. Mr. Pierce has been a speaker for a variety of industry associations including the Rural Cellular Association (RCA), the National Telecommunications Cooperative Association (NTCA) and the Fiber to the Home (FTTH) Council, and he has also been recognized as a testifying expert in the wireless industry. Before becoming an investment banker, Mr. Pierce had a successful seven year career as an officer in the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Corps. In addition to working in a number of tactical level assignments in the U.S. and Europe, he is a graduate of the Army’s Airborne and RANGER training programs. Mr. Pierce graduated from Brown University with a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and received his M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he graduated with distinction.