The anti-windup problem seeks to minimize closed loop performance deterioration due to input nonlinearities, such as saturation, for a given linear time-invariant plant and controller. This paper presents a linear matrix inequality (LMI) based method that attempts to minimize performance deterioration while explicitly restricting the anti-windup closed loop dynamics. The restriction placed on the dynamics is described via LMI regions, which is a form of regional pole placement. Finally, the techniques discussed in this paper are demonstrated on an electro-hydraulic testbed. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.