Jim Ross, President of Horizon, commented, "Wickham has a reputation for superior customer service and they offer a comprehensive range of irrigation, drainage and landscape lighting products. As part of Horizon's distribution network, Wickham will expand its presence over time to include the full breadth of irrigation, landscape, specialty and professional lawn care equipment products."

Manuel Perez de la Mesa, POOL President and CEO, commented, "This transaction expands POOL's footprint in the $3 billion plus irrigation and landscape distribution marketplace by providing a significant presence in the strategically important Texas and Georgia markets."

Wickham will begin to operate under the Horizon brand immediately, but no changes are expected in either the Texas or Georgia markets' management, sales or operations. There are no plans to consolidate or reduce the number of employees or distribution locations. Wickham President Jeff Partridge will lead Horizon's efforts in the Texas and Georgia markets as Vice President of Horizon's Southwest Division and report to Jim Ross. John Sofyanos, Water Zone Managing Partner, will lead the sales efforts as Director of Sales for the Southwest Division and report to Partridge.

"The Wickham and Water Zone people are the best in the business at exceeding the expectations of Texas and Georgia irrigation and landscape professionals," added Ross, "We plan on providing them the additional resources necessary to continue to build on their success."

Horizon is a professional distributor of turf irrigation products, outdoor power equipment, fertilizers and allied products serving the professional turf, landscape and golf markets, and currently operates 58 sales centers in 10 states including Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Texas and Georgia. They are a full-service provider of landscape and irrigation supplies, including Rain Bird, Hunter, Toro, Irritrol, eXmark, Husqvarna, Monsanto, Vista, Unique and FX Professional Lighting. For more information about Horizon, please visit www.horizononline.com.

Horizon is a wholly owned subsidiary of Pool Corporation. POOL is the largest wholesale distributor of swimming pool and related backyard products. Currently, POOL operates 272 sales centers in North America and Europe, through which it distributes more than 100,000 national brand and private label products to over 70,000 wholesale customers. For more information about POOL, please visit www.poolcorp.com.