WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., Jun 24, 2010 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Fifth Street Finance Corp. /quotes/comstock/13*!fsc/quotes/nls/fsc (FSC 11.40, -0.27, -2.31%) announced today additions to the staff of its investment adviser, Fifth Street Management LLC ("Fifth Street"), and two promotions within its team. Chad Blakeman joined as a Managing Director and Co-Chief Investment Officer and Katie Betz joined the accounting team as a Staff Accountant. In addition, Fifth Street is pleased to announce the promotion of its partner Ivelin Dimitrov to Co-Chief Investment Officer.
Chad Blakeman has more than 23 years of lending-related experience in underwriting and account management in the cash flow and asset-based markets. Mr. Blakeman is primarily responsible for overseeing all underwriting and risk management processes. Prior to joining Fifth Street, Mr. Blakeman was Chief Risk Officer for Freeport Financial LLC where he co-managed a portfolio of approximately $1.5 billion. Prior to Freeport Financial, Mr. Blakeman worked at GE Capital Corporation's Global Sponsor Finance Group, First Chicago Bank, Bank of America and Heller Financial Inc. Mr. Blakeman received his B.S. in Finance from the University of Illinois and his M.B.A. from DePaul University. In addition to his other responsibilities, Mr. Blakeman became the fifth member of Fifth Street's Investment Committee, joining Leonard Tannenbaum, Bernard Berman, Marc Goodman and Ivelin Dimitrov.
"The addition of Chad enhances our underwriting and risk management processes and also provides us with expertise in the operation of an asset management platform. His experience in underwriting middle market deals and working with the rating agencies adds important value to the Fifth Street platform as it continues to grow," commented Leonard Tannenbaum, Chief Executive Officer.
Katie Betz joined the accounting team as a Staff Accountant and most recently comes from Anchin, Block, & Anchin, LLP where she worked in auditing, tax preparation, and financial reporting for hedge funds and fund-of-fund clients. Ms. Betz is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a B.S. in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and Accounting from the University of Richmond.
Fifth Street has also added Meghan Zink as an Administrative Assistant and Ashley Holzel has been promoted to Administrative Assistant.
About Fifth Street Finance Corp.
Fifth Street Finance Corp. is a specialty finance company that lends to and invests in small and mid-sized companies in connection with investments by private equity sponsors. Fifth Street Finance Corp.'s investment objective is to maximize its portfolio's total return by generating current income from its debt investments and capital appreciation from its equity investments.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements, including statements with regard to the future performance of Fifth Street Finance Corp. Words such as "believes," "expects," "projects," "anticipates," and "future" or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the inherent uncertainties in predicting future results and conditions. Certain factors could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected in these forward-looking statements, and these factors are identified from time to time in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Fifth Street Finance Corp. undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com
SOURCE: Fifth Street Finance Corp.
CONTACT: Fifth Street Finance Corp.
Stacey Thorne, Executive Director, Investor Relations
(914) 286-6811
stacey@fifthstreetcap.com
From Market Watch Published on June 24, 2010, 4:01 p.m. EDT
