PETER GLEYSTEEN AND CHARLESBANK CAPITAL PARTNERS
ANNOUNCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF
COMMERCIAL INDUSTRIAL FINANCE CORP.

New York, NY, January 12, 2006 – Peter Gleysteen and Charlesbank Capital Partners, LLC are pleased to announce the formation and capitalization of Commercial Industrial Finance Corp. (“CIFC”), which has day one investment capacity of $400 million. CIFC is a wholesale co-lending partner to financial institutions serving middle-market companies and private equity firms. Peter Gleysteen, the former head of JPMorgan Chase’s syndicated loan business and a 25-year veteran of the syndicated loan market, is CIFC’s founder and Chief Executive Officer.

CIFC will target small senior secured leveraged loans and will also invest in large leveraged loans, 2nd lien tranches, revolving credits and non-US credits. CIFC will be a non-competitive “buy & hold” lender providing credit decisions in a prompt, efficient and predictable manner. On a loan-by-loan basis, CIFC can substitute for competitors in club loans, enabling the loan originator to maximize the primary banking relationship; increase loan-originator lending capacity for individual obligors; and improve loan-originator portfolio diversification.

“We believe that there is a large, latent demand among banks and non-bank lenders for a non-competitive co-lender for small leveraged credits on a new issue basis, as well as for risk transfers of existing exposures,” said Peter Gleysteen. “CIFC seeks to be a preferred partner to banks and finance companies by co-lending – as friend, not foe – into credit relationships which are too small for the syndicated loan market.”

“Peter was one of the pioneers of the syndicated loan market and was instrumental in building JPMorgan Chase’s syndicated loan business into the leading global franchise it is today, and we are delighted to be teaming with him and the strong group of credit and investment professionals at CIFC,” said Tim Palmer, Managing Director at Charlesbank. “We believe that this business model, focused on loan originators’ desire for liquidity and risk management for small middle-market credits, represents the next step in the evolution of the bank loan market into a capital market.”

With offices in Boston and New York, Charlesbank is a middle-market private equity firm managing more than $1 billion of capital. Charlesbank focuses on management-led buyouts and growth capital financings and seeks to partner with strong management teams and other value-added investors to build companies with sustainable competitive advantage and excellent prospects for growth. For more information on Charlesbank, visit www.charlesbank.com.