North River Investment Management Raises $100 Million for Initial Commercial Real Estate Fund

Business Wire,  June 6, 2008  

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Liquidity Crisis Provides Opportunity for New Investment Fund to Acquire and Originate Commercial Real Estate Debt

NEW YORK -- North River Investment Management, LLC ("North River") announced today that it has launched its first commercial real estate private equity fund, North River Opportunity Partners I, L.P. (the "Fund"), with $100 million of committed capital.

The Fund will pursue investment strategies designed to capitalize on opportunities created by turmoil in the global credit markets. Initially, the Fund will buy discounted pools of commercial mortgage debt and originate first mortgage and mezzanine loans on high-quality commercial real estate properties.

"Our team sees enormous potential to create long term value from the massive dislocation in the credit markets," said Jonathan Kaye, Co-Founder of North River. "Current economic pressures have led to wide-scale devaluations of assets such as commercial mortgage-backed securities. At the same time, due to capital constraints, many traditional lenders have retreated from commercial mortgage financing, even for highly credit-worthy properties."

"To seize these opportunities, we have devised a strategy that is flexible enough to allow us to either acquire or originate quality commercial real estate-oriented financial assets, while actively enhancing the value of those assets," continued Kaye. "We view this as the first step in creating a long term platform for investment in the commercial real estate capital markets."

Seasoned Management Team to Capitalize on Opportunities

The Fund is managed by a team of seasoned commercial real estate underwriters, lenders and investors. Mr. Kaye is a 20 plus-year veteran of the commercial real estate finance industry. Previously, he was an Executive Managing Director of GMAC Commercial Mortgage Corporation ("GMAC"), where he co-founded the firm's New York-based securitized finance and structured debt business and established its London-based European debt operations. Prior to GMAC, Mr. Kaye held positions with Lehman Brothers, Manufacturers Hanover Trust and Chemical Bank.

Avery Egert, a Principal and Co-Founder of the Fund and a member of its investment committee, is President and Chief Executive Officer of The Sovereign Group, which owns and operates a real estate portfolio comprised of 15 million square feet of properties nationwide, ranging from Class A office building to industrial parks. Earlier in his career, Mr. Egert managed a 12 million square-foot portfolio of family-owned commercial and multi-family properties.

Jason Shukofsky, a Partner in the Fund, most recently served as a Senior Vice President and head of underwriting at Capmark Finance Inc., formerly known as GMAC. At Capmark, he held credit approval authority, managed an underwriting team of 25 professionals and underwrote and closed over $2 billion of transactions. Mr. Shukofsky began his career at PaineWebber Real Estate Securities.

Richard Cadigan, another Partner, is an attorney with 10 years experience in structured finance. Prior to joining North River, Mr. Cadigan was the manager of the transaction management team responsible for structuring fixed and floating rate loans at Dillon Read Capital Management, LLC, a hedge fund wholly-owned by Union Bank of Switzerland, AG. Prior to that, Mr. Cadigan also worked with GMAC.

North River Investment Management, LLC is a manager of private equity funds that seek to invest in financial assets, specifically in the commercial real estate sector. Please direct all inquiries to Jonathan Kaye at jkaye@northriverim.com.

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