Lovell Minnick and Tortoise Management to Acquire Tortoise

LEAWOOD, Kan. & LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tortoise Investments and Lovell Minnick Partners today announced the
signing of a definitive agreement for a buyout of Tortoise, a leader in
essential assets and essential income investing. Terms of the private
transaction were not disclosed.

As part of the transaction, ongoing management and employees are
expected to meaningfully increase their ownership of Tortoise. Employees
will retain a significant equity interest, with many investing
additional capital alongside Lovell Minnick, who will purchase the
equity stake held by Mariner Holdings and retiring co-founders of
Tortoise.

“We are excited and energized by our fit with the team at Lovell
Minnick,” said Tortoise chief executive officer and co-founder, Kevin
Birzer. “Their substantial expertise investing in asset management
companies, along with their extensive and global industry network, are
second to none. We believe this partnership will deepen our financial
flexibility to facilitate strategic growth, which also provides
opportunities to develop and retain employees. Most importantly,
Tortoise will remain focused on our goal of delivering strong returns to
our clients while providing top quality service.”

“Tortoise is a market leader in essential assets and essential income
investing with differentiated actively managed and passive energy and
fixed income solutions,” said Bob Belke, a partner at Lovell Minnick.
“We are excited to partner with Tortoise and its talented management
team, and we look forward to providing Tortoise with strategic and
capital support to help further enhance and expand its client solutions.”

Tortoise will maintain its independence and autonomy with its brand,
investment processes and day-to-day portfolio management remaining
unchanged. Members of Tortoise’s senior management and its portfolio
managers have signed long-term employment agreements to remain with
Tortoise. Three co-founders, Zachary Hamel, Kenneth Malvey and Terry
Matlack, will sell their remaining interest in Tortoise and retire from
Tortoise upon closing of the transaction. Co-founder David Schulte, who
left Tortoise in 2015, will also sell his remaining interest in Tortoise.

“I’d like to thank my fellow co-founders, Zach, Ken, Terry and Dave, for
helping to build Tortoise into the market leader it is today,” said
Birzer. “I’m also grateful for the valuable support and partnership with
Mariner over the past eight years. Together, we have turned a business
idea into approximately $20 billion in assets under advisement at
Tortoise and helped lead the development of the institutional master
limited partnership (MLP) investment industry. We are looking forward to
continued success with our new partner, Lovell Minnick.”

Lovell Minnick is joined by a premier group of institutional investors,
including HarbourVest Partners, AlpInvest Partners, and several
additional limited partners, who are supporting the transaction.

BMO Capital Markets acted as exclusive financial adviser to Mariner
Holdings and Evercore acted as exclusive financial adviser to Lovell
Minnick. Key Strategic Advisors advised management on the transaction.
UBS and Credit Suisse are providing committed debt financing for the
transaction.

Independent directors and the full boards of Tortoise’s registered funds
have approved new advisory agreements as a result of the transaction.
The transaction is expected to close by the end of the first quarter of
2018, subject to standard regulatory, client and fund shareholder
approvals.

About Tortoise

Tortoise is a leader in essential assets and essential income investing.
Through its registered advisers, Tortoise provides investors access to
differentiated active and passive investment solutions and market
insights and had $20.2 billion assets under advisement as of Sept. 30,
2017. For more information, please visit www.tortoiseinvest.com.

About Lovell Minnick Partners

Founded in 1999, Lovell Minnick Partners is an independent private
equity firm specializing in the financial and business services sectors.
Having raised $1.7 billion in committed capital, the firm has provided
equity capital for growth investments, management buyouts, ownership
transitions, and recapitalizations for over 30 middle-market companies.
Currently, Lovell Minnick has investments in a number of
industry-leading asset management companies including Matthews
International Capital Management, CenterSquare Investment Management,
Trea Asset Management and 361 Capital. Previous investments include
ALPS, AssetMark, Duff & Phelps and numerous others. For more
information, please visit www.lmpartners.com.

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains certain statements that may include
"forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the
Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of
1934. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, included
herein are "forward-looking statements." Although Tortoise and Lovell
Minnick believe the expectations reflected in these forward-looking
statements are reasonable, they do involve assumptions, risks and
uncertainties, and these expectations may prove to be incorrect. Actual
results could differ materially from those anticipated in these
forward-looking statements as a result of a variety of factors,
including those discussed in the Tortoise registered funds’ reports that
are filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not
place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak
only as of the date of this press release. Other than as required by
law, Tortoise and Lovell Minnick do not assume a duty to update any
forward-looking statement. There is no assurance that any transaction
will be completed.

Contacts

For Tortoise
Zito Partners
Deborah Kostroun
(201)
403-8185
[email protected]
or
Robert
Zito
(917) 692-0747
[email protected]
or
For
Lovell Minnick Partners
Stanton Public Relations & Marketing
Kelly
Holman
(646) 502-3509
[email protected]