PORTLAND, Ore., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blount International, Inc. (NYSE:BLT) ("Blount" or the "Company") announced today that David A. Willmott has joined the Company as Senior Vice President - Corporate Development and Strategy, an executive officer position. Mr. Willmott will be working with other members of the Company's senior leadership team to identify growth opportunities both internally and externally. Prior to joining Blount, Mr. Willmott was a co-founder and partner of Collins Willmott & Co. LLC, a New York based private equity firm focused on providing growth capital to middle market companies, and before that he was a Managing Director and partner of the Lehman Brothers private equity division, where he worked for eleven years. Mr. Willmott has an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a B.A. from Williams College. Mr. Willmott has served as a member of the board of directors of several companies, including CP Kelco, The Hunter Fan Company (Chairman), Superior Highwall Miners, Evergreen Copyright Acquisitions and The Cross Group. Commenting on the development, Blount President and CEO Josh Collins stated, "We created this position in order to ensure that our team is laser-focused on profitable growth and long-term value creation for our shareholders. I have worked with and known David for over twelve years, and I cannot imagine a more qualified person for this role. The fact that we are able to attract an executive of David's quality is indicative of the positioning of the Company and the opportunity set going forward." Blount International, Inc. is a diversified international company whose principal business is its Outdoor Products segment, the world's largest manufacturer of saw chain and related accessories, with manufacturing plants in the United States, Canada, Brazil and China. Blount sells its products in more than 100 countries around the world. For more information about Blount, please visit our website at http://www.blount.com/. Forward looking statements in this release, including without limitation the Company's "expectations," "beliefs," "plans," "indications," and their variants, as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, are based upon available information and upon assumptions that the Company believes are reasonable; however, these forward looking statements involve certain risks and should not be considered indicative of actual results that the Company may achieve in the future. DATASOURCE: Blount International, Inc. CONTACT: Dale C. Johnson, Jr., Vice President - Corporate Human Resources of Blount International, Inc., +1-503-653-8881 Web Site: http://www.blount.com/

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