RISK FACTORS

Investing in our common stock involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks described below, together with the other information contained in this prospectus, before making your decision to invest in shares of our common stock.

Risks Related to Our Business

Our product sales are tied to corporate spending and service-sector employment, which are outside of our control. Our sales and/or growth in sales would be adversely affected by a recessionary economy characterized by decreased corporate spending and service-sector employment.

Our sales of office furniture are significantly impacted by the level of corporate spending primarily in North America which, in turn, is a function of the general economic environment. In a recessionary economy, service-sector employment, corporate cash flows and non-residential commercial construction decrease, which typically leads to a decrease in demand for office furniture. In addition, a recessionary economy may also result in saturation of the market by “just new” used office systems, leading to a decrease in demand. Sales of office systems, which have historically accounted for more than half of our revenues, represent longer term and higher cost investments for our clients. As a result, sales of office systems are more severely impacted by decreases in corporate spending than sales of seating, files and storage and casegoods, and demand for office systems typically takes longer to respond to an economic recovery. Due to a combination of these factors, we experienced a significant decrease in sales and operating profits during the recent economic recession.

Geopolitical uncertainties, terrorist attacks, acts of war, increases in energy and other costs or combinations of such and other factors that are outside of our control could at any time have a significant effect on the North American economy, and, therefore, our business. The occurrence of any of these or similar events in the future could result in downward pressure on the economy, which we would expect to cause demand for our products to decline and competitive pricing pressures to increase.

We may have difficulty increasing or maintaining our prices as a result of price competition, which could lower our profit margins. Our competitors may develop new product designs that give them an advantage over us in making future sales.

Office furniture companies compete on the basis of, among other things, price and product design. Since our competitors offer products that are similar to ours, we face significant price competition from our competitors, which tends to intensify during an industry downturn. This price competition impacts our ability to implement price increases or, in some cases, such as during an industry downturn, maintain prices, which could lower our profit margins. Additionally, our competitors may develop new product designs that achieve a high level of customer acceptance, which could give them a competitive advantage over us in making future sales.

Our efforts to introduce new products that meet customer and workplace requirements may not be successful, which could limit our sales growth or cause our sales to decline.

To keep pace with workplace trends, such as changes in workplace design and increases in the use of technology, and with evolving regulatory and industry requirements, including environmental, health, safety and similar standards for the workplace and for product performance, we must periodically introduce new products. The introduction of new products requires the coordination of the design, manufacturing and marketing of such products, which may be affected by factors beyond our control. The design and engineering of certain of our new products can take up to a year or more, and further time may be required to achieve client acceptance. In addition, we may face difficulties in introducing new products if we cannot successfully align ourselves with independent architects and designers who are able to design, in a timely manner, high quality products consistent with our image. Accordingly, the launch of any particular product may be later or less successful than originally anticipated by us. Difficulties or delays in introducing new products or lack of customer acceptance of new products could limit our sales growth or cause our sales to decline.

11

Table of Contents

We may not be able to manage our business effectively if we are unable to retain our experienced management team or recruit other key personnel.

The success of our operations is highly dependent upon our ability to attract and retain qualified employees and upon the ability of our senior management and other key employees to implement our business strategy. We believe there are only a limited number of qualified executives in the industry in which we compete. We rely substantially upon the services of Andrew B. Cogan, our Chief Executive Officer, Kathleen G. Bradley, our President and Chief Executive Officer – Knoll, North America, and Stephen A. Grover, our Senior Vice President – Operations. The loss of the services of any of these individuals or other key members of our management team could seriously harm our efforts to successfully implement our business strategy. While we currently maintain key man life insurance policies with respect to Mr. Cogan and Ms. Bradley, this insurance may not be sufficient to compensate us for any harm to our business resulting from any loss of their services. The inability to attract and retain other talented personnel could also affect our ability to successfully implement our business strategy.

We are dependent on the pricing and availability of raw materials and components, and price increases and unavailability of raw materials and components could lower sales, increase our cost of goods sold and reduce our profits and margins.

We require substantial amounts of raw materials, which we purchase from outside sources. Raw materials comprised our single largest total cost for the year ended December 31, 2003. Steel is the primary raw material used in the manufacture of our products. Steel prices have increased by an average of 11% during the first nine months of 2004, and as a result our costs for steel have increased by $3.8 million during this period. Plastics are another raw material used in the manufacture of our products. The prices of plastics are sensitive to the cost of oil, which is used in the manufacture of plastics, and have increased significantly in recent months. To date, we have been successful in largely offsetting these recent price changes in raw materials through our global sourcing initiatives, primarily from China, Taiwan, Italy and Germany, and our continuous improvement programs. However, if the prices of certain raw materials, in particular steel, continue to increase, we may be unable to continue to offset any further increased costs through our global sourcing initiatives and continuous improvement programs. The prices and availability of raw materials may in the future be subject to change or curtailment due to, among other things, the supply of, and demand for, such raw materials, changes in laws or regulations, including duties and tariffs, suppliers’ allocations to other purchasers, interruptions in production by raw materials or component parts suppliers, changes in exchange rates and worldwide price levels. Future changes in the price for, or supply of, these raw materials and components could increase our cost of goods sold and reduce our profits and margins.

In addition, contracts with most of our suppliers are short-term contracts. These suppliers may not continue to provide raw materials to us at attractive prices, or, at all, and we may not be able to obtain the raw materials we need in the future from these or other providers on the scale and within the time frames we require. Moreover, we do not carry significant inventories of raw materials or finished goods that could mitigate an interruption or delay in the availability of raw materials. Any failure to obtain raw materials on a timely basis, or any significant delays or interruptions in the supply of raw materials, could prevent us from being able to manufacture products ordered by our clients in a timely fashion, which could have a negative impact on our reputation and our dealership network, and could cause our sales to decline.

We rely upon independent furniture dealers, and a loss of a significant number of dealers could affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on a network of independent dealers for the joint marketing of our products to small and mid-sized accounts, and to assist us in the marketing of our products to large accounts. We also rely upon these dealers to provide a variety of important specification, installation and after-market services to our clients. Our dealers operate primarily under one-year non-exclusive agreements. There is nothing to prevent our dealers from

12

Table of Contents

terminating their relationships with us. In addition, individual dealers may not continue to be viable and profitable. If dealers go out of business or are restructured, we can suffer losses because they may not be able to pay us for furniture previously delivered to them. The loss of a dealer relationship could also negatively affect our ability to maintain market share in the affected geographic market and to compete for and service clients in that market until a new dealer relationship is established. The loss or termination of a significant number of dealer relationships could cause difficulties for us in marketing and distributing our products and a resulting decline in our sales.

One of our largest clients currently is the U.S. government, which is subject to uncertain future funding levels and federal procurement laws and requires restrictive contract terms; any of these factors could curtail current or future business with the U.S. government.

For the year ended December 31, 2003, we derived approximately 13.0% of our revenue from sales to over 60 agencies and departments within the U.S. government. Our ability to compete successfully for and retain business with the U.S. government is highly dependent on cost-effective performance, as well as the status of federal procurement laws that require certain government agencies to purchase products from Federal Prison Industries, Incorporated, or UNICOR, and whether certain waivers of the application of these laws will be continued. Our business is also sensitive to changes in national and international priorities and U.S. government budgets.

The U.S. government typically can terminate or modify any of its contracts with us either for its convenience or if we default by failing to perform under the terms of the applicable contract. A termination arising out of our default could expose us to liability and impede our ability to compete in the future for contracts and orders. Furthermore, if we were found to have committed fraud or a criminal offense in connection with any government contract, we could be suspended or debarred from all further government contracting.

We are highly leveraged, and a significant amount of cash will be required to service our indebtedness. Restrictions imposed by the terms of our indebtedness may limit our operating and financial flexibility.

At September 30, 2004, we had total consolidated outstanding debt of approximately $425.8 million. The high level of our indebtedness could have important consequences to holders of our common stock, given that:

Our new credit facility prevents us from incurring any additional indebtedness other than (i) borrowings under our revolving credit facility (there were no outstanding borrowings as of September 30, 2004 under our revolving credit facility); (ii) certain types of indebtedness that may be incurred subject to aggregate dollar limitations identified in our new credit facility, such as purchase money indebtedness and capital lease obligations not to exceed $30.0 million in the aggregate and unsecured indebtedness not to exceed $50.0 million in the aggregate, and (iii) other types of indebtedness that are not limited to specific dollar limitations, such as indebtedness incurred in the ordinary course of business and unsecured, subordinated indebtedness. The aggregate amount of indebtedness that we may incur pursuant to these exceptions is further limited by the financial covenants in our new credit facility and, therefore, will depend on our future results of operations and cannot be determined at this time. Furthermore, although we may incur unlimited amounts of certain types of indebtedness, subject to compliance with these financial covenants, the amount of indebtedness that we may actually be able to incur will depend on the terms on which such types of debt financing are available to us, if available at all.

13

Table of Contents

As a result of the foregoing, we may be prevented from engaging in transactions that might further our growth strategy or otherwise be considered beneficial to us. A breach of any of the covenants in our new credit facility could result in a default thereunder. If payments to the lenders under our new credit facility were to be accelerated, our assets could be insufficient to repay in full our indebtedness under our new credit facility and our other liabilities. Any such acceleration could result in a foreclosure on all or substantially all of our subsidiaries’ assets, which would have a negative impact on the value of our common stock and jeopardize our ability to continue as a going concern.

An inability to protect our intellectual property could have a significant impact on our business.

We attempt to protect our intellectual property rights, both in the United States and in foreign countries, through a combination of patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret laws, as well as licensing agreements and third-party nondisclosure and assignment agreements. Because of the differences in foreign trademark, patent and other laws concerning proprietary rights, our intellectual property rights do not generally receive the same degree of protection in foreign countries as they do in the United States. In some parts of the world, we have limited protections, if any, for our intellectual property. Our ability to compete effectively with our competitors depends, to a significant extent, on our ability to maintain the proprietary nature of our intellectual property. The degree of protection offered by the claims of the various patents, trademarks and service marks may not be broad enough to provide significant proprietary protection or competitive advantages to us, and patents, trademarks or service marks may not be issued on our pending or contemplated applications. In addition, not all of our products are covered by patents. It is also possible that our patents, trademarks and service marks may be challenged, invalidated, cancelled, narrowed or circumvented.

In the past, certain of our products have been copied and sold by others. We vigorously try to enforce our intellectual property rights, but we have to make choices about where and how we pursue enforcement and where we seek and maintain patent protection. In many cases, the cost of enforcing our rights is substantial, and we may determine that the costs of enforcement outweigh the potential benefits. If we are unable to maintain the proprietary nature of our intellectual property with respect to our significant current or proposed products, our competitors may be able to sell copies of our products, which could adversely affect our ability to sell our original products and could also result in competitive pricing pressures.

If third parties claim that we infringe upon their intellectual property rights, we may incur liability and costs and may have to redesign or discontinue an infringing product.

We face the risk of claims that we have infringed third parties’ intellectual property rights. Companies operating in our industry routinely seek patent protection for their product designs, and many of our principal competitors have large patent portfolios. Prior to launching major new products in our key markets, we normally evaluate existing intellectual property rights. However, our competitors may also have filed for patent protection which is not as yet a matter of public knowledge. Our efforts to identify and avoid infringing third parties’ intellectual property rights may not be successful. Any claims of patent or other intellectual property infringement, even those without merit, could (i) be expensive and time consuming to defend; (ii) cause us to cease making, licensing or using products that incorporate the challenged intellectual property; (iii) require us to redesign, reengineer, or rebrand our products or packaging, if feasible; or (iv) require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements in order to obtain the right to use a third party’s intellectual property.

We could be required to incur substantial costs to comply with environmental requirements. Violations of, and liabilities under, environmental laws and regulations may increase our costs or require us to change our business practices.

Our past and present ownership and operation of manufacturing plants are subject to extensive and changing federal, state, local and foreign environmental laws and regulations, including those relating to discharges to air, water and land, the handling and disposal of solid and hazardous waste and the cleanup of properties affected by hazardous substances. As a result, we are involved from time to time in administrative and judicial proceedings

14

Table of Contents

and inquiries relating to environmental matters and could become subject to fines or penalties related thereto. We cannot predict what environmental legislation or regulations will be enacted in the future, how existing or future laws or regulations will be administered or interpreted or what environmental conditions may be found to exist. Compliance with more stringent laws or regulations, or stricter interpretation of existing laws, may require additional expenditures by us, some of which may be material. We have been identified as a potentially responsible party pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act, or CERCLA, for remediation costs associated with waste disposal sites previously used by us. In general, CERCLA can impose liability for costs to investigate and remediate contamination without regard to fault or the legality of disposal and, under certain circumstances, liability may be joint and several, resulting in one party being held responsible for the entire obligation. Liability may also include damages for harm to natural resources. The remediation costs and our allocated share at some of these CERCLA sites are unknown. We may also be subject to claims for personal injury or contribution relating to CERCLA sites. We reserve amounts for such matters when expenditures are probable and reasonably estimable.

We are subject to potential labor disruptions, which could have a significant impact on our business.

Certain of our employees located in Grand Rapids, Michigan and Italy are represented by unions. The collective bargaining agreement for our Grand Rapids location has an initial term that expires on August 27, 2006 with evergreen one-year terms thereafter, but may be terminated by either party on August 27, 2006 and anniversaries thereof with 60 days’ notice. While we have good relations with our Grand Rapids associates and the union, we may be unsuccessful in negotiating and agreeing upon a new collective bargaining agreement at that time if the current collective bargaining agreement is terminated. We have also had sporadic, to date unsuccessful, attempts to unionize our other North American manufacturing locations. In August 2004, a petition was filed with the National Labor Relations Board seeking to unionize employees at our Muskegon, Michigan, facility. In September 2004, our employees at this facility voted against unionization. In addition, we have experienced a number of brief work stoppages in recent years at our facilities in Italy as a result of national and local issues. While we believe that we have good relations with our workforce, we may experience work stoppages or other labor problems in the future, and further unionization efforts may be successful. Any prolonged work stoppage could have an adverse effect on our reputation, our vendor relations and our dealership network. Moreover, because substantially all of our products are manufactured to order, we do not carry finished goods inventory that could mitigate the effects of a prolonged work stoppage.

Our insurance may not adequately insulate us from expenses for product defects.

We maintain product liability and other insurance coverage that we believe to be generally in accordance with industry practices, but our insurance coverage does not extend to field visits to repair, retrofit or replace defective products, or to product recalls. As a result, our insurance coverage may not be adequate to protect us fully against substantial claims and costs that may arise from product defects, particularly if we have a large number of defective products that we must repair, retrofit, replace or recall.

We may require additional capital in the future, which may not be available or may be available only on unfavorable terms.

Our capital requirements depend on many factors, including capital improvements, tooling and new product development. To the extent that our existing capital is insufficient to meet these requirements and cover any losses, we may need to raise additional funds through financings or curtail our growth and reduce our assets. Any equity or debt financing, if available at all, may be on terms that are not favorable to us. Equity financings could result in dilution to our stockholders, and the securities may have rights, preferences and privileges that are senior to those of our common stock. If our need for capital arises because of significant losses, the occurrence of these losses may make it more difficult for us to raise the necessary capital.

15

Table of Contents

We may be vulnerable to the effects of currency exchange rate fluctuations, which could increase our expenses.

We primarily sell our products in U.S. dollars and we also report our financial results in U.S. dollars, but we pay some of our expenses in other currencies. This can result in a significant increase or decrease in the amount of those expenses in U.S. dollar terms, which affects our profits. In the future, any foreign currency appreciation relative to the U.S. dollar would increase our expenses that are denominated in that currency. From time to time we review our foreign currency exposure and evaluate whether we should enter into hedging transactions. We generally do not hedge our foreign currency exposure, and, to the extent that we determine not to do so in the future, we may be vulnerable to the effects of currency exchange rate fluctuations.

Risks Related to Our Common Stock and this Offering

Our principal stockholder and its affiliates will be able to influence matters requiring stockholder approval and could discourage the purchase of our outstanding shares at a premium.

After the offering, our principal stockholder, Warburg Pincus will beneficially own approximately     % of our outstanding common stock. This concentration of ownership may have the effect of delaying, preventing or deterring a change in control of our company, could deprive our stockholders of an opportunity to receive a premium for their common stock as part of a sale or merger of our company and may negatively affect the market price of our common stock. Transactions that could be affected by this concentration of ownership include proxy contests, tender offers, mergers or other purchases of common stock that could give you the opportunity to realize a premium over the then-prevailing market price for shares of our common stock.

As a result of Warburg Pincus’ share ownership and representation on our board of directors, Warburg Pincus will be able to influence all affairs and actions of our company, including matters requiring stockholder approval such as the election of directors and approval of significant corporate transactions. The interests of our principal stockholder may differ from the interests of the other stockholders. For example, Warburg Pincus could oppose a third party offer to acquire us that you might consider attractive, and the third party may not be able or willing to proceed unless Warburg Pincus supports the offer. In addition, if our board of directors supports a transaction requiring an amendment to our certificate of incorporation, Warburg Pincus is currently in a position to defeat any required stockholder approval of the proposed amendment. If our board of directors supports an acquisition of us by means of a merger or a similar transaction, the vote of Warburg Pincus alone is currently sufficient to approve or block the transaction under Delaware law. In each of these cases and in similar situations, you may disagree with Warburg Pincus as to whether the action opposed or supported by Warburg Pincus is in the best interest of our stockholders.

We are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements since we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the New York Stock Exchange rules and, as a result, you will not have the protections afforded by these corporate governance requirements.

Because Warburg Pincus will control more than 50% of the voting power of our common stock after this offering, we are considered to be a “controlled company” for the purposes of the New York Stock Exchange listing requirements. As such, we are permitted, and have elected, to opt out of the New York Stock Exchange listing requirements that would otherwise require our board of directors to have a majority of independent directors and our compensation and nominating and corporate governance committees to be comprised entirely of independent directors. Accordingly, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the New York Stock Exchange corporate governance requirements.

Future sales of our common stock in the public market could lower our share price.

We and our existing stockholders may sell additional shares of common stock into the public markets after this offering. We may also issue convertible debt securities to raise capital in the future. After the consummation of this offering, we will have outstanding              shares of common stock and options to purchase an additional

16

Table of Contents

11,805,172 shares of common stock. This number includes the              shares being sold by the selling stockholders in this offering, which may be resold immediately in the public market. Of the remaining              outstanding shares and shares issuable upon exercise of options,              or     % of our total outstanding shares and shares issuable upon exercise of options will be restricted from immediate resale under the “lock-up” agreements between certain of our current stockholders and the underwriters described in “Underwriting,” but may be sold into the market after those “lock-up” restrictions expire or if they are waived by Goldman, Sachs & Co. and UBS Securities LLC in their sole discretion. The outstanding shares and shares issuable upon exercise of options subject to the “lock-up” restrictions will generally become available for sale at various times following the expiration of the lock-up agreements, which is 180 days after the date of this prospectus, subject to volume limitations and manner-of-sale requirements under Rule 144 of the Securities Act of 1933, or the Securities Act. In addition, options to purchase              shares of common stock will expire within 90 days following this offering if they are not exercised before then, subject to extensions in certain circumstances. The shares underlying these options will be available for immediate sale into the market.

Our corporate documents and Delaware law contain provisions that could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company.

Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a merger or acquisition involving us that our stockholders may consider favorable. For example, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation authorizes our board of directors to issue up to 10,000,000 shares of “blank check” preferred stock. Without stockholder approval, the board of directors has the authority to attach special rights, including voting and dividend rights, to this preferred stock. With these rights, preferred stockholders could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire us. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation provides for a staggered board of directors, whereby directors serve for three-year terms, with approximately one third of the directors coming up for reelection each year. Having a staggered board will make it more difficult for a third party to obtain control of our board of directors through a proxy contest, which may be a necessary step in an acquisition of us that is not favored by our board of directors.

We are also subject to the anti-takeover provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law. Under these provisions, if anyone becomes an “interested stockholder,” we may not enter into a “business combination” with that person for three years without special approval, which could discourage a third party from making a takeover offer and could delay or prevent a change of control. For purposes of Section 203, “interested stockholder” means, generally, someone owning 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock or an affiliate of ours that owned 15% or more of our outstanding voting stock during the past three years, subject to certain exceptions as described in Section 203. Under one such exception, Warburg Pincus and its affiliates do not constitute an “interested stockholder.”

Upon any change in control, the lenders under our new credit facility would have the right to require us to repay all of our outstanding obligations under the facility.

There is no existing market for our common stock, and we do not know if one will develop to provide you with adequate liquidity.

Prior to this offering, there has not been a public market for our common stock. We cannot predict the extent to which investor interest in our company will lead to the development of an active trading market on the New York Stock Exchange or otherwise or how liquid that market might become. If an active trading market does not develop, you may have difficulty selling any of our common stock that you buy. Consequently, you may not be able to sell our common stock at prices equal to or greater than the price you paid in this offering.

Our stock price may be volatile, and your investment in our common stock could suffer a decline in value.

There has been significant volatility in the market price and trading volume of equity securities, which is unrelated to the financial performance of the companies issuing the securities. These broad market fluctuations

17

Table of Contents

may negatively affect the market price of our common stock. The initial public offering price for our common stock will be determined by negotiations between representatives of the underwriters and us and may not be indicative of prices that will prevail in the open market following this offering. You may not be able to resell your shares at or above the initial public offering price due to fluctuations in the market price of our common stock caused by changes in our operating performance or prospects and other factors.

Some specific factors that may have a significant effect on our common stock market price include:

This offering will cause immediate and substantial dilution in net tangible book value.

Purchasers of our common stock in this offering will experience immediate and substantial dilution in net tangible book value of $21.34 per share at an assumed initial public offering price of $15.00 per share. Additional dilution is likely to occur upon the exercise of options granted by us. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities, our stockholders may experience additional substantial dilution.

The requirements of being a public company may strain our resources and distract management.

As a public company, we will be subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, or the Exchange Act, and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. These requirements may place a strain on our people, systems and resources. The Exchange Act requires that we file annual, quarterly and current reports with respect to our business and financial condition. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting. In order to maintain and improve the effectiveness of our disclosure controls and procedures and internal controls over financial reporting, significant resources and management oversight will be required. This may divert management’s attention from other business concerns. Upon consummation of this offering, our costs will increase as a result of having to comply with the Exchange Act, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and the New York Stock Exchange listing requirements, which will require us, among other things, to establish an internal audit function. We may not be able to do so in a timely fashion or without incurring material costs.

18

Table of Contents