LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc. Receives $125 Million of New Capital

Philadelphia, PA (PRWEB) November 21, 2011

LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc. (LEAF or the Company), a leading independent equipment leasing and finance company, announced the recent closing of a $ 50 million growth equity investment from Eos Partners, L.P. and its affiliates (Eos), a New York based private investment firm. In connection with the Eos investment, LEAF also closed on $ 75 million of additional debt financing with Versailles Assets LLC, an asset-backed commercial paper conduit sponsored by Natixis, which increases the Companys securitized and syndicated warehouse facility to $ 185 million in aggregate. The warehouse facility is managed by Guggenheim Securities, LLC (Guggenheim Securities). The $ 125 million of incremental financing provided by Eos and Natixis will further support the expansion of the LEAF platform and its growing origination volume. FBR Capital Markets & Co. (FBR) advised LEAF in connection with the equity financing.

Headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, LEAF was launched in January 2011 with initial funding from Resource America, Inc., Resource Capital Corp., and Guggenheim Securities. The Company works closely with leading commercial equipment vendors and manufacturers to help them maximize revenues by offering competitive small- and mid-ticket financing solutions to their customers. LEAF currently has over $ 640 million of assets under management and recently closed a $ 105 million term securitization which was underwritten by Guggenheim Securities and rated by Moodys and DBRS. Resource America, Inc. and Resource Capital Corp. continue to maintain a significant investment in LEAF and, together with Eos, are committed to supporting LEAFs long-term business objectives.

Crit DeMent, LEAFs Chairman and CEO, stated, We are delighted to have closed this financing and are excited about the opportunity to partner with Eos. The investment that Eos has made in our company is a validation of our management team, corporate capabilities and creative marketing strategies. We value their sponsorship of our business and look forward to leveraging their experience with growth companies and their expertise in the capital markets. We believe that the additional financing provided by Eos and Natixis significantly strengthens our leasing platform and will enable us to continue providing the equipment financing industry with a strong and forward thinking resource, one that will transform the way the market perceives the value of a financing partner.

Brendan Moore, a Principal of Eos, said, We believe that LEAF represents a compelling opportunity to leverage an established platform with an experienced and proven management team and help build a market leading independent commercial finance company. Our investment will enhance LEAFs ability to execute on its growth strategy and expand its offering to meet the ever changing demands of the markets and the customers that the Company serves.

About LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc.

LEAF Commercial Capital, Inc. (“LEAF”) is a national equipment leasing and finance company headquartered in Philadelphia, PA, with a sales and service center in Moberly, MO and a call center in Orange County, CA. LEAF’s core competency is the ability to assist vendors and manufacturers in maximizing financing as a revenue generating strategy. For more information, please visit http://www.LEAFnow.com.

About Eos Partners

Formed in 1994, Eos is a private investment partnership with approximately $ 1.6 billion of capital under management. In its private equity activities, Eos focuses on working closely with management teams and committing its understanding of strategic alternatives and the financial markets to help grow these businesses into larger scale enterprises. For more information, please visit http://www.eospartners.com.

About Natixis

Natixis is the corporate, investment and financial services arm of Groupe BPCE, the second-largest banking group in France. With around 22,000 employees, Natixis specializes in three main business lines: Corporate and Investment Banking, Investment Solutions (asset management, insurance, private banking, private equity), and Specialized Financial Services. Versailles Assets LLC is an asset-backed commercial paper conduit administered by Natixis. Versailles Assets LLC is rated A-1/P-1 and provides securitized funding to a wide variety of US clients.

About Guggenheim

Guggenheim Partners, LLC, the parent of Guggenheim Securities, LLC, is a privately held global financial services firm with more than $ 125 billion in assets under management. The firm’s businesses include investment management, investment advisory, insurance, investment banking and capital markets services. The firm is headquartered in Chicago and New York with a global network of offices throughout the United States, Europe and Asia. For more information, please visit http://www.guggenheimpartners.com.

About FBR

FBR & Co. (FBR) provides investment banking, merger and acquisition advisory, institutional brokerage, and research services through its subsidiary FBR Capital Markets & Co. FBR focuses capital and financial expertise on the following industry sectors: consumer; diversified industrials; energy & natural resources; financial institutions; insurance; real estate; and technology, media & telecom. FBR Fund Advisers, Inc., a subsidiary of FBR, provides clients with a range of investment choices through The FBR Funds, a family of mutual funds. FBR is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with offices throughout the United States and in London. For more information, please visit http://www.fbr.com.

About Resource America, Inc.

Resource America, Inc. is a specialized asset management company that uses industry specific expertise to generate and administer investment opportunities for its own account and for outside investors in the real estate, commercial finance, and financial fund management sectors. For more information please visit our website at http://www.resourceamerica.com or contact Marketing and Investor Relations at pkamdar@resourceamerica.com.

About Resource Capital Corp.

Resource Capital Corp. is a commercial real estate specialty finance company that qualifies as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for federal income tax purposes. RSO’s investment strategy focuses on commercial real estate-related assets and, to a lesser extent, higher-yielding commercial finance assets. RSO invests in the following asset classes: commercial real estate-related assets such as whole loans, A-notes, B-notes, mezzanine loans, mortgage-related securities and real estate joint ventures, and commercial finance assets such as other asset-backed securities, senior secured corporate loans, lease receivables, trust preferred securities, structured notes and debt tranches of collateralized debt obligations.

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