Prudential Capital Partners Closes Second Mezzanine Fund at $775 Milli

    Business Editors

    CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 11, 2005--Prudential Capital Partners announced today that it has successfully completed fundraising for Prudential Capital Partners II, L.P. (or Fund II), with capital commitments totaling $775 million. It surpassed its initial $600 million target size by $175 million with commitments from 22 diverse investors. Prudential Capital Partners is a middle-market mezzanine fund sponsored by Prudential Capital Group, a private fixed-income investment business of Prudential Financial, Inc. (NYSE:PRU).
    Investors include foreign and domestic pension funds, fund-of-funds managers, banks, insurance companies, and family offices. In addition, the senior investment professionals of Prudential Capital Group have committed $32 million to a co-investment vehicle, which will invest alongside the new fund. The investor group is very similar to Prudential Capital Partners' first middle-market mezzanine fund of $619 million, which closed in 2001.
    "Our investment experience and unique approach to this growing asset class helped us to exceed our fundraising goal by a gratifying margin," said Jeffrey Dickson, managing principal. "This was a strong follow-up fundraising effort to our first fund, which should be fully invested by mid-year"
    To date, Prudential Capital Partners, L.P., has funded 28 mezzanine and equity investments, and has realized seven of those investments. Prudential Capital Partners is actively seeking financing opportunities for Fund II, which is expected to make investments over the next five years. Fund II will follow an investment strategy consistent with that of the first fund: making investments ranging from $10 to $50 million to fund acquisitions, buyouts, sponsorless and sponsored recapitalizations, and expansions for middle-market companies in traditional industries.
    Mark Hoffmeister, a principal of the fund, added, "In a strategy consistent with Prudential Capital Group's investment philosophy for many decades, we'll focus on uncovering middle-market companies with strong management teams and stable cash flow, as well as continue to offer one-stop finance solutions to the equity sponsor community."
    "Our network of more than 100 investment professionals build direct relationships with issuers and sponsors in local markets and ensure access to deal flow supporting our strategic investment approach," said Charles King, principal. "It's what differentiates us from other mezzanine funds and the response by investors has confirmed it."
    In addition to Dickson, Hoffmeister, and King other principals of Prudential Capital Partners, II, L.P., comprise Allen Weaver and Matthew Chanin. Each have on average more than 20 years of private investment experience with specific expertise in mezzanine investments, having been responsible for the design and implementation of Prudential Capital Group's mezzanine strategy since 1995.

    Prudential Capital Group, the fund sponsor, has been a leading provider of private capital to companies for more than 60 years, investing in senior and mezzanine debt transactions and manages a portfolio of more than $39 billion (as of 12/31/04). It has built a strong and unique nationwide, middle-market investment capability, and in 2004, invested more than $5 billion in private placements through its regional office network: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Frankfurt, London, Newark, New York, and San Francisco.

    Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $500 billion in total assets under management as of December 31, 2004, serve individual and institutional customers worldwide and include The Prudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest life insurance companies in the United States. These companies offer a variety of products and services, including life insurance, mutual funds, annuities, pension and retirement related services and administration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking and trust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocation services. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.

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CONTACT: Prudential Capital Partners Grace Healy, 312-540-4235 grace.healy@prudential.com

KEYWORD: ILLINOIS NEW JERSEY INDUSTRY KEYWORD: INSURANCE BANKING SOURCE: Prudential Capital Partners

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