GE Commercial Finance Serves as Administrative Agent and Co-Lead Arranger for $125 Million Credit Facility for Averatec, Inc

Business Wire, March 22, 2005

NORWALK, Conn. -- GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending announced that it served as administrative agent and co-lead arranger of a $125 million revolving credit facility for Averatec, Inc. GE Commercial Finance will hold $45 million of the credit facility, with the remainder syndicated. The facility closed on February 14.

With headquarters in Santa Ana, Calif., Averatec is a leader in the design and delivery of portable electronic products, primarily notebook computers and related products, serving home offices, the Fortune 500, government, and education markets with systems sold through retail, distribution, and reseller channels.

"New and expanded distribution relationships and increasing recognition of our high quality, value priced product line are driving extremely rapid growth for our company - making it vital for us to have access to a dedicated source of growth capital," said Saeed Shabazzi, Averatec president. "GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending well fills this role for us, with a strong commitment to our industry as well as our company, and the financial resources to satisfy our increasing capital needs."

"This transaction is just the most recent example of our involvement across a broad spectrum of prominent technology and electronics companies, demonstrating as well the financial resources we can dedicate to serving this industry," said Carlos A. Elizondo, vice president. Based in Corporate Lending's Bay Area California office, Mr. Elizondo directs business development efforts in the technology and electronics industries for GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending.

"Throughout the technology industry, we bring the capability to make significant financial commitments, a global financing network, and the ability as necessary to call on the resources of the larger GE organization as a premier technology provider, in order to craft highly responsive, flexible financing solutions," he said.

GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending is a full service provider of financing products and services including asset-based financing, cash flow lending, acquisition finance and corporate restructuring to companies across a wide spectrum of industries with financing needs above $30 million. Key served markets in the technology and electronics industries include computer hardware, semiconductors, software, consumer electronics, computer services, logistics providers and equipment manufacturing services. Corporate Lending has arranged more than $2 billion in financing commitments to technology companies over the past two years.

Among Corporate Lending's significant recent transactions in the technology and electronics industries is a $200 million senior credit facility to a major personal computer manufacturer; a $600 million A/R securitization facility, for which GE was the sole lender, for Ingram Micro Inc. (NYSE: IM), the world's largest technology distributor; and a recent $65 million line increase to SYNNEX Corporation (NYSE: SNX) a corporate lending customer since 1997, which brings the company's total facilities to $320 million.

"Organic growth and M&A activity are fueling capital demand across the technology and electronics industries, with companies responding to a rebound in corporate investment in information technology products and services," said Mr. Elizondo. "There is both need and opportunity for dedicated lenders with industry knowledge and demonstrated experience at structuring transactions closely aligned with critical company objectives."

About GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending

GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending offers financing to clients from middle-market companies to large corporations. Products and services include asset-based financing, cash flow lending and corporate restructuring. Corporate Lending is a leading global provider of financing solutions for investment and non-investment grade companies - committed to supporting clients at all stages of the business cycle. For more information on the businesses and products of GE Commercial Finance Corporate Lending, please visit www.gelending.com. GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $230 billion and is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. General Electric (NYSE: GE) is a diversified technology, media and financial services company dedicated to creating products that make life better. For more information, visit the company's website at www.ge.com.

About Averatec

Headquartered in Orange County, the heart of Southern California's technology center, Averatec is dedicated to delivering the highest quality portable electronic products backed by superior service. Averatec delivers customer satisfaction by creating premium computer products and marketing them at mainstream prices. The company's notebook systems are sold through major national retailers as well as distribution and reseller channels. For more information, please visit www.averatec.com.