Category: News

RiseSmart, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of online outplacement and job search services, has raised $4.6 million in new Series A funding. Storm Ventures led the round, and was joined by Norwest Venture Partners. The company previously raised $4.25 million from Norwest and individual angels.

PRESS RELEASE
RiseSmart, a provider of Web-enabled outplacement and job search services, today announced that it has secured $4.6 million in additional Series A financing, including $2.8 million from Storm Ventures and $1.8 million from Norwest Venture Partners (NVP). The company announced $3 million in Series A financing from NVP last year and has raised a total of $8.85 million in angel and institutional investment.

RiseSmart also announced that Sanjay Subhedar, managing director of Storm Ventures, will join NVP general partner Venkat Mohan and RiseSmart founder and CEO Sanjay Sathe on the company’s board of directors.

“RiseSmart has created a business model that promises to be a game changer in the $3 billion plus outplacement industry,” Subhedar said. “RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge is disrupting the cost structure for corporate outplacement providers, while leveraging technology to deliver superior value to a growing roster of Fortune 500 clients. “

Said Mohan: “RiseSmart has grown rapidly since NVP made its initial investment in June 2008. The company has gone the extra mile to provide an excellent customer experience to both corporate clients and transitioning workers – and that has paid off in word of mouth and new business referrals.”

“We are delighted to begin working with Storm Ventures and to extend our existing relationship with NVP,” Sathe said. “This infusion of capital will enable us to aggressively expand our sales efforts and enhance our product and service offerings.”

RiseSmart’s Transition Concierge solution uses Web technology supported by a global team of HR professionals to provide corporate clients a tech-savvy, cost-effective alternative to existing outplacement services. The solution dispenses with “soft services” like grief counseling and office space to focus on the services that displaced workers need most: help with marketing themselves through a rewrite of their resumes and cover letters; guidance from a transition specialist, including assistance in using online social networks; and — most importantly –actionable job leads from across the Web based on their specific criteria, for a period of up to six months.

An independent 2009 survey of 355 U.S. employers by the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) showed that the average employer paid more than $5,000 per executive or manager for three to six months of external outplacement services — more than twice the cost of RiseSmart Transition Concierge.

“Enterprises and displaced workers are looking for something they can’t find in traditional firms — a singular focus on finding employees jobs. That’s what RiseSmart delivers,” Sathe said. “Overpriced services like group counseling and the use of Grade A office space are increasingly viewed as obsolete. CFOs and HR executives should begin demanding more — for less.”

About RiseSmart

RiseSmart, based in Silicon Valley, is transforming the way companies provide outplacement services and individuals use the Web to find jobs. The San Jose Mercury News says, “RiseSmart typifies the valley’s knack for using technology to disrupt standard business practices.” RiseSmart combines sophisticated technology with one-on-one support to help displaced employees and other jobseekers find new jobs — fast. For more information about RiseSmart, visit the company’s Web site at www.RiseSmart.com.

About Storm Ventures

Storm Ventures was founded in 2000 by a seasoned group of industry veterans with the common vision of sharing their collective experience, passion and energy to help talented and driven entrepreneurs build great companies of enduring value. Storm Ventures focuses on seed and early stage information technology companies which best leverages the team’s operational perspective and experience and enables Storm to add value in the critical early stages of a company’s development. For more information, please visit www.stormventures.com.

About Norwest Venture Partners

Norwest Venture Partners (NVP) is a global, multi-stage investment firm that manages more than $2.5 billion in capital out of its offices in Palo Alto, California, Mumbai and Bangalore, India and Herzelia, Israel. NVP makes early to late stage venture and growth equity investments in U.S. and global companies across a wide range of sectors including: information technology, business services, financial services and consumer. NVP has actively partnered with entrepreneurs to build great businesses for more than 48 years and has funded over 450 companies since inception. For more information, please visit www.nvp.com.

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Today is an exciting day, my friends. Yes, today’s the day I can say with 100% certainty that I have now officially seen it all. Chinavasion is selling not an entire Festivus pole, but merely an LED lighting kit FOR YOUR EXISITING FESTIVUS POLE. A Festivus accessory, if you will.

It’s really nothing more than an LED rope light consisting of four different colors and a handful of blinking sequences. It can be yours for $17.28 plus shipping from China.

A dumb product though it may be, you have to hand it to Chinavasion for taking the time to whip up some truly insane marketing photos for the sole purpose of trying to push some cheap LED rope lighting at almost $20. Examples:

Apparently Cao San Tsa is the Chinese equivalent of Frank Costanza. Unreal.

Festivus Pole LED Color Light Kit [Chinavasion]

And for the uninformed, here is the story of Festivus:

How often have you said to yourself “If only there was some way I could use a small stylus to create odd rap beats using samples from known beatboxers along with with the sounds of drum and bass?” If you’re like me, every day. Thankfully, there’s the Stylophone Beatbox.

First, a sample of what you can really do with this thing if you try.

Now that your mind has been well and fully blown, let’s talk about the product itself. Invented in 1967 by Brian Jarvis, the original Stylophone was an early analog electronic keyboard. You could slide a stylus over a set of metallic leads therby creating the sounds you may have heard on “Space Oddity” by David Bowie and “Pocket Calculator” by Kraftwerk. So far so good.

Well, the Beatbox is slightly different. This $25 device has a circular pad and black plastic stylus. You tap individiual spots on the pad to trigger sounds and there are three voices – one a set of beatboxes by MC Zani and then a drum voice and a bass note voice. You can change the pitch with a dial on the bottom and there is an MP3-line-in and a headphone/line out. You can record and play back beats by tapping one of the two spots on the device.

The Beatbox has an internal speaker but it sounds much better through the line out. Sadly, I didn’t have the wherewithal to record it directly so here’s my out attempts at making some hot beatz.

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Bottom Line
You obviously need to know how to hold a beat to make this thing do anything at all, so that’s one consideration. Otherwise it’s a fun little toy for budding hip hop producers and those who which to cause a huge racket in their homes or offices.

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“President Obama’s overhaul hinges on six crucial individuals and their skill at negotiating behind closed doors,” The Los Angeles Times reports. “The core group consists of Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, legislative affairs director Phil Schiliro, communications expert Dan Pfeiffer, (Peter) Orszag, (Jim) Messina and Nancy-Ann DeParle. Each brings particular experience and skills to the task. Each is first and foremost an inside player, comfortable operating behind the scenes.” Obama designed this team “for the inside game unfolding now in House and Senate offices. Their job includes gathering intelligence, assessing what lawmakers want and devising compromises to win over balky members without alienating others. But their paramount goal has been — and remains — to keep the process moving irrepressibly forward and on a practicable track.”

As the health care debate moves from Congressional committees onto the House and Senate Floor, their mission is changing. “Now, Obama’s crew will be at the table with lawmakers behind closed doors, crafting compromises to meet attacks from a determined Republican minority and well-financed industry groups” (Nicholas, 10/21).

In a separate piece, The Los Angeles Times has mini-profiles of the six people. Emanuel is “the quarterback of the White House campaign,” while Messina’s “almost familial relationship with Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)” is an important asset. Schiliro’s experience as former chief of staff to Rep. Henry A. Waxman, D-Calif., “has helped him determine which lawmakers need presidential hand-holding.” An expert on health policy, DeParle “has met one-on-one with 135 members of Congress.” Pfeiffer is “the media fireman of the health campaign,” and Orszag’s experience at the CBO helps him “determine the costs and savings of various policy ideas” (10/21).

Drug companies use coupons to get patients to choose name-brand products — which are often more expensive — by subsidizing a patient’s high copay. The practice hides a drug’s true costs from consumers. NPR reports on consumers’ drug choices and notes a Wall Street Journal investigation that “found that in the past year, drug manufacturers have broadly expanded their subsidy programs as copays and drug costs have risen. The Journal notes that copays do affect consumer behavior. Every 10 percent rise in copays seems to lead to a 6 percent decrease in spending on drugs.”

Coupons also lead to rising premiums and puts consumers in a difficult position between huge insurance companies and drug companies. NPR notes: “Obama talks about choosing the blue pill over the red one, but the coupon cards make it hard to know which is which. It’s uncomfortably clear that these cards are not the biggest weapons in this war. Drug consumers are” (Joffe-Walt, 10/20).

The BlackBerry Bold 9700 has finally been announced. Details have been leaking in about the “Onyx” for months and most of the seem to be true in hindsight. The BlackBerry Bold 9000 successor rocks a Tour-like keyboard but ditches the trackball in favor of a little trackpad like in the Curve 8520. The camera has been upped to 3.2MP and the screen is now a 480 x 320 display. Just like the Storm 2, the 9700 runs BlackBerry OS 5.0 and all the goodies are included like threaded messaging, updated BB Messenger, and BlackBerry Maps.

Best of all RIM is launching the phone to nearly every GSM carrier in North America and Europe in November although International carrier-specific pricing is hard to come by right now. That will probably change in a day or two though.

AT&T has announced that it will sell the phone for $199 after a $100 mail-in rebate, and T-Mobile is expected to follow suit although it’s press release doesn’t mention a price. What it does mention however is that the phone will be able to make unlimited calls off of WiFi for $10 per month, which is something AT&T is slowly accepting too although it seems that AT&T’s flavor will lack that ability.

Copanion Inc., an Andover-based provider of, has raised $10.2 million in Series B funding co-led by return backers Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Pilot House Ventures. The company previously raised $9 million.

PRESS RELEASE

Copanion, Inc., an innovator in tax document automation, today announced it has closed a $10.2 million round of venture capital funding, co-lead by Commonwealth Capital Ventures and Pilot House Ventures Group. This round will further fuel Copanion’s momentum in the tax and accounting profession and fund expansion into new market segments for its SaaS-based document automation solution.

As part of the financing round, Edward Jennings, Copanion’s former SVP of marketing and sales, has assumed the role of CEO. Founder Steven Ladd has stepped down as CEO and moved into an advisory role—responsible for new market development.

“Moving forward, we have aggressive plans to expand our sales and marketing efforts,” stated Jennings. “With development of the core technology largely complete, we will now focus on expanding our go-to-market initiatives to increase revenue in the tax market and explore several other markets.”

“We are excited about the in-roads Copanion has made in the accounting market and the broad applicability of their technology beyond tax document automation. We are committed to supporting their evolution from an early stage R&D organization to a high growth SaaS solution provider across multiple vertical markets,” stated Jeffrey M. Hurst, General Partner and a Co-founder of Commonwealth Capital Ventures.

This latest funding round closed in October 2009.

About Copanion

Copanion is a leading innovator in tax document automation. The company saves tax professionals hundreds of hours during tax season with accurate and secure web-based applications for automating client tax document organization, data entry and review. For more information about Copanion, visit Copanion.com.

The Copanion and GruntWorx names and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Copanion in the United States and in other countries. All other companies and products referenced herein are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.

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Synageva BioPharma Corp., a Waltham, Mass.-based developer of protein therapeutics, has raised $12 million in new six-thround funding, bringing the round total to $45 million. New Leaf Venture Partners joined existing backers Hunt BioVentures, Yasuda Enterprise Development, Baker Brothers Investments, Tullis Dickerson and Four Partners. The company has now raised around $95 million.

PRESS RELEASE

Synageva BioPharma Corp., a privately held biopharmaceutical company, announced today that it has completed the final closing on a $45 million financing that began earlier this year. This final closing, which adds $12 million to the $33 million investment announced in May, includes existing investors as well as new investor New Leaf Venture Partners (NLV), based in New York City and Menlo Park, CA. As part of the financing, Srini Akkaraju, M.D., Ph.D., Managing Director at NLV, will join Synageva’s Board of Directors. Synageva also announced the expansion of its senior leadership team with several key appointments.

“This $45 million financing helps Synageva realize its vision of developing a portfolio of innovative medicines for patients with rare diseases and high unmet medical need,” stated Sanj K. Patel, Synageva’s President and CEO. “Synageva’s technology has advanced tremendously and allows us to develop therapies for conditions that afflict small patient populations who are frequently overlooked and often have no existing therapies. This development focus, along with partnering interest we have received for our cytokine and high potency monoclonal antibody programs, positions Synageva to generate tremendous value. I am pleased that New Leaf Ventures has joined our other premier investors, and I am convinced that together we will fulfill our vision to provide these therapies to patients.”

Srini Akkaraju, M.D., Ph.D., of New Leaf Venture Partners, stated, “Having followed the company’s progress closely, I am delighted to see how Synageva has established its technology platform as having critical advantages in developing many types of protein therapeutics. With the addition of a team that has substantial experience in rare disease product development, the company is poised to execute on this new corporate vision that will help patients that are often overlooked.”

New Management Appointments

Anthony Quinn, M.D., Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, is responsible for developing and overseeing the clinical strategy for Synageva’s portfolio. He is also responsible for advancing Synageva’s clinical research and development capabilities, and expanding its translational medicine activities focused on areas of high unmet medical need. Dr. Quinn joins Synageva from Roche, where he was Vice President and Global Head of Clinical Research and Exploratory Development for Inflammation. Dr. Quinn is an experienced R&D leader with more than 20 years of clinical, translational medicine and contemporary drug development experience across a broad range of disease areas.

Eric Grinstead, Senior Vice President, Government and Business Affairs, is responsible for business strategy for Synageva. Most recently Eric served as Vice President of Government Affairs and Market Access for Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Eric has over 20 years of experience in commercial strategy, operations, government affairs, and reimbursement at companies such as Genzyme and Amgen.

AJ Joshi, M.D., Senior Vice President, Strategic Development and Corporate Operations, is responsible for Synageva’s corporate strategy and operations, as well as life cycle and alliance management. Most recently, Dr. Joshi was Vice President of US Medical Affairs and Operations at Genzyme Corporation.

Brian Conner, Vice President Quality and Regulatory Affairs/ General Manager – Atlanta Office, is responsible for quality, regulatory affairs management, and general operations at Synageva’s Atlanta area office and production facilities. Brian most recently served as the Corporate Compliance Officer for Stiefel Laboratories.

John Taylor, Vice President, Business Development, is responsible for Synageva’s product and technology licensing and its business development functions. John joins Synageva from Javelin Pharmaceuticals, where he was Vice President, Business Development.

“Collectively, these new appointments bring a powerful combination of deep drug development, rare disease market, and overall biotech industry expertise to the Synageva leadership team,” stated Patel. “They share the passion, values, and absolute commitment that will be required to rapidly execute on our vision, successfully develop the therapies we are targeting, and ultimately earn the privilege of providing them to patients.”

About Synageva BioPharma Corp.

Synageva BioPharma Corp., is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing novel, next-generation, and follow-on protein therapeutics that leverage the unique competitive advantages of its proprietary Synageva Expression Platform (SEP™). Synageva’s development programs address specific unmet medical or market needs in several therapeutic areas, including oncology and rare disorders. The Company has generated a diverse pipeline of product candidates, including high-potency monoclonal antibodies with up to 100-fold increased killing activity for cancer targets, novel proteins for rare diseases, and next-generation and follow-on cytokines.

SEP™ by Synageva is a novel, integrated platform of proprietary vectors and protein production, processing and purification systems. It provides a number of sustainable advantages over current expression systems for developing and commercializing protein therapeutics, including: high expression levels, more efficient purification processes, rapid scalability, consistency of end product, substantially reduced costs, and the ability to produce certain proteins with the potential for improved activity and/or safety profiles. Synageva has leveraged these attributes to develop its pipeline of biopharmaceuticals, including monoclonal antibodies with significant potency and potential efficacy advantages. Further information regarding Synageva BioPharma Corp. is available at www.synageva.com.

About NLV Partners

NLV Partners is a life science-dedicated venture capital firm with offices in Menlo Park and New York. Founded by an experienced team of venture capitalists with deep healthcare industry experience, NLV Partners invests primarily in companies focused on clinical-stage biopharmaceutical products, early-stage medical devices and molecular diagnostics. NLV Partners manages over $1.3 billion of assets, including NLV-I, NLV-II and the healthcare technology portfolio of Sprout Group. For further information, visit the NLV Partners website at www.nlvpartners.com.

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Vertos Medical Inc., an Aliso Viejo, Calif.-based developer of minimally-invasive devices for lumbar spine decompression, has raised $15.5 million in Series D funding. Onset Ventures led the round, and was joined by return backers CHL Medical Partners, Foundation Medical Partners, Aweida Venture Partners and DFJ Mercury. The company previously raised around $17 million.

PRESS RELEASE

Medical device company Vertos Medical, Inc., developer of the mild® procedure for lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), today announced it has completed a $15.5 million Series D financing. New investor, ONSET Ventures, led the round with additional participation from existing Vertos investors CHL Medical Partners, Foundation Medical Partners, Aweida Venture Partners and DFJ Mercury. The funding will be used to continue U.S. commercialization of the company’s mild technology, the least invasive surgical procedure for treating LSS, with no implants left behind.*

“Vertos’ mild procedure represents a breakthrough treatment option for a huge and underserved market of LSS sufferers: those who are no longer responding to medical management, but who are not yet candidates for traditional invasive surgeries,” said ONSET Ventures Partner and new Vertos board member, John Ryan. “Behind this procedure are proprietary technology and a top notch management team with a strategic approach for driving market adoption. We believe this combination uniquely positions Vertos for significant growth and will provide a healthy return on our investment.”

Approximately 900,000 Americans are in some form of treatment for LSS every year.(1) Many address their LSS symptoms with pain medications or steroid injections, but these treatments tend to wear off or lose effectiveness over time. Furthermore, these patients may not be appropriate candidates for traditional invasive back surgery. mild offers an alternative image-guided procedure, performed through a portal that is smaller than the diameter of a pencil.

“This sizeable financing is an important milestone for Vertos and demonstrates recognition of the market potential of our mild procedure,” said James M. Corbett, president and chief executive officer of Vertos. “We are grateful to have the backing of high-caliber venture partners, including ONSET Ventures, as we endeavor to bring the mild solution to physicians and patients across the country.”

About mild

mild is the first minimally invasive surgical treatment to provide immediate and lasting relief for patients by addressing a primary cause of LSS. Using proprietary mild devices, the physician removes the bone or tissue that is causing pressure on the lower spinal canal nerves. Based on initial clinical use, mild patients experience an average 75 percent reduction in pain and greater than 70 percent increase in mobility.(2) Treating LSS earlier and least invasively, which mild allows for, reduces overall health care costs.

About Vertos Medical Inc.

Vertos Medical was founded in 2005 to develop a minimally invasive method for lumbar spine decompression to treat patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), a degenerative, age-related narrowing of the lower spinal canal. Its first proprietary platform technology, called mild® (Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression), is the least invasive surgical procedure for treating LSS, with no implants left behind.( * )For more information, visit www.vertosmed.com.

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Tarsa Therapeutics Inc. has raised $24 million in Series A funding. MVM Life Science Partners led the round, and was joined by Quaker BioVentures and Novo AS. In related news, Unigene Laboratories Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE) has licensed its Phase III oral calcitonin program to Tarsa, in exchange for a 25% ownership position.

PRESS RELEASE

Unigene Laboratories, Inc. (OTCBB: UGNE) and Tarsa Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that Unigene has licensed its Phase III oral calcitonin program to Tarsa, a new company formed by a syndicate of three venture capital funds specializing in the life sciences: MVM Life Science Partners, Quaker BioVentures and Novo A/S. Simultaneously, Tarsa announced the closing of a $24 million Series A financing from the investor syndicate.

As part of the agreement, Unigene will own 25% of Tarsa on a fully diluted basis and will be eligible to receive milestone payments based on the achievement of certain sales benchmarks, as well as royalties on product sales. Tarsa will be solely responsible for the costs of the global Phase III clinical program that has recently been initiated and also has reimbursed Unigene for its Phase III expenditures to date.

Calcitonin is approved for the treatment of osteoporosis, but its use has been limited as it is currently available only in intranasal and injectable forms. The oral formulation that Unigene has licensed to Tarsa has been shown in prior clinical studies to deliver the desired blood levels of calcitonin and reduce levels of plasma CTx-1, an established marker of bone resorption. It has the potential to offer a new therapeutic option for osteoporosis patients as the first FDA-approved and commercially available oral formulation of calcitonin.

Tarsa also announced that David Brand has joined the company as President, CEO and Director. He brings over 30 years of global pharmaceutical experience in product development, acquisitions, marketing and operational management with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), its predecessor companies, and most recently served as President and CEO of Cardiokine Inc.

Mr. Brand stated, “Calcitonin has been proven safe and effective in the treatment of osteoporosis in large numbers of patients over many years, and current worldwide sales are estimated at about half a billion dollars. The broader use of calcitonin, however, has been limited by its availability solely in injectable and intranasal forms. Tarsa’s unique, once-daily oral calcitonin tablet has the potential to offer patients the proven safety and efficacy of calcitonin, with the significant advantage of easier administration and enhanced long-term compliance.”

While at GSK, Mr. Brand held senior management positions in marketing, business development and international operations. He led the launch activities for the blockbuster products Paxil(®) and Kytril(®) and subsequently was responsible for pre-launch commercial development plans for Coreg(®), Hycamtin(®) and Requip(®). He also led the business units that launched Requip and Avandia(®). As CEO of Cardiokine Mr. Brand assembled a management and development team that closed a $50 million financing round and completed a worldwide development and marketing agreement for lead product lixivaptan with Biogen Idec.

“The new company assembled by this investor syndicate includes an outstanding group of professionals who have the knowledge and experience to ensure that the value of this asset is fully realized,” noted Dr. Ronald S. Levy, Executive Vice President of Unigene. “We have always believed that this program has substantial commercial potential. Accordingly, it was important for us to retain a significant portion of that value for Unigene’s shareholders, and this structure enables us to accomplish that. The oral calcitonin program will be Tarsa’s number one priority, and they intend to commit their substantial resources and considerable expertise to successfully advancing the Phase III program in the shortest possible time frame.”

“We view Tarsa as a creative partnership between the management team, Unigene and this investor group, committed to completing the Phase III program and enabling registration and commercialization of a compelling new therapy in a focused and efficient manner,” added Dr. Eric Bednarski of MVM Life Science Partners.

Dr. James P. Gilligan, Unigene’s Vice President of Product Development, will become Tarsa’s Chief Scientific Officer while retaining certain responsibilities at Unigene.

The Board of Directors of Tarsa will be headed by Chairman Dr. Bednarski and includes Unigene’s Dr. Levy, Tarsa CEO Mr. Brand, Dr. Matthew Rieke, Partner at Quaker BioVentures and Dr. Martin Edwards, Senior Partner at Novo A/S.

Tarsa will be based in Philadelphia, PA.

About Unigene

Unigene Laboratories, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company focusing on the oral and nasal delivery of large-market peptide drugs. Due to the size of the worldwide osteoporosis market, Unigene is targeting its initial efforts on developing calcitonin and PTH-based therapies. Fortical(®), Unigene’s nasal calcitonin product for the treatment of postmenopausal osteoporosis, received FDA approval and was launched in 2005. Unigene has licensed the U.S. rights for Fortical(®) to Upsher-Smith Laboratories, worldwide rights for its oral PTH technology to GlaxoSmithKline and worldwide rights for its calcitonin manufacturing technology to Novartis. Unigene’s patented oral delivery technology has successfully delivered, in preclinical and/or clinical trials, various peptides including calcitonin, PTH and insulin. Unigene’s patented manufacturing technology is designed to cost-effectively produce peptides in quantities sufficient to support their worldwide commercialization as oral or nasal therapeutics. For more information about Unigene, call (973) 265-1100 or visit www.unigene.com. For information about Fortical, visit www.fortical.com.

About Tarsa Therapeutics

Newly formed Tarsa Therapeutics is developing an oral formulation of calcitonin, a peptide hormone for the treatment of osteoporosis that slows the rate of bone destruction. Availability of an oral formulation is expected to generate wider use of this established osteoporosis treatment, which currently is available only in injectable and intranasal formulations. Tarsa’s oral calcitonin has generated promising data in Phase II studies and the global Phase III clinical program is now underway. Tarsa will be based in Philadelphia, PA.

About MVM Life Science Partners LLP

MVM Life Science Partners LLP is a venture capital firm, founded in 1997, which manages three funds totaling more than $500 million and invests in companies that discover, develop and commercialize innovations in biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical devices for the life science and healthcare markets. MVM has offices in both London and Boston, making investments predominantly in Western Europe and the Eastern US, and has a growing team with wide-ranging experience across the life science and private equity markets (www.mvmlifescience.com).

About Quaker BioVentures

Quaker BioVentures is dedicated to investing in life science companies in the Mid-Atlantic region and contiguous states. The firm leads investments in companies across the spectrum of the life science industry, including biopharmaceuticals, medical devices, human diagnostics, specialty pharmaceuticals, and healthcare services. Quaker BioVentures invests in companies at all stages of development from early stage businesses to public companies. Founded in 2003, the firm manages over $700 million in committed capital and is currently investing Quaker BioVentures II, a $420 million fund formed in 2007. Please visit Quaker BioVentures’ website at www.quakerbio.com.

About Novo A/S

Novo A/S is an active and independent company in its support of biotech ventures. The aspiration is to bring together the best of both worlds: industry insight and network from our pharma/biotech inheritance combined with a venture capital mindset that focuses on results and value creation. Novo has invested in more that 50 portfolio companies. There is considerable diversity in the portfolio across technologies, products and financial stages. The portfolio is international, currently with more than half the invested capital in North American companies and the rest in Denmark and Europe.

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Tower Cloud Inc., a St. Petersburg, Fla.-based provider of backhaul services to wireless carriers, has raised $20 million in new VC funding. Return backers El Dorado Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures were joined by a new investor group led by telecom entrepreneur Cam Lanier.

PRESS RELEASE

Tower Cloud, Inc., a provider of backhaul services to wireless carriers, announced today it closed a $20 million equity round to fund expansion into Atlanta, GA and other growth opportunities. The round included funding from the company’s current investors, including Sutter Hill Ventures and El Dorado Ventures, and from a new investor group led by Cam Lanier, a very successful telecom entrepreneur and investor. The new investor group includes Ballast Point Ventures, Kinetic Ventures, Knology, Inc., ITC Partners Fund, Noro-Moseley Partners, and The Burton Partnership.

“Wireless backhaul is one of the fastest growing areas in telecom. We are very excited to be in business with Tower Cloud and feel the company is strongly positioned to serve the exploding bandwidth needs of wireless carriers.” said Cam Lanier, Chairman of ITC Holding Company, LLC. Demand for wireless broadband service on cellular networks is expanding rapidly, driven by growing popularity of cellular smartphones and other advanced mobile wireless devices. As wireless carriers upgrade their cellular networks to provide 4G wireless data and Internet services their need for broadband backhaul service will continue to accelerate.

“We are very pleased to have the new group of equity partners join our existing investors to form a very strong syndicate”, said Ron Mudry, CEO of Tower Cloud. “Given the challenging economy and financial markets, it is a strong vote of confidence in our company and business model to attract such a high quality group of investors.”

About Tower Cloud Tower Cloud provides telecom backhaul services to wireless carriers. The company builds and operates fiber optic and wireless networks to connect cellular towers to the wireless carriers’ mobile switching centers. Wireless carriers utilize Ethernet and Sonet T-1 broadband capacity provided by Tower Cloud to manage the exploding volume of voice and data traffic on their cellular networks. Tower Cloud currently operates backhaul networks in the greater Orlando, FL and Miami, FL markets and is in the process of constructing a new network in Atlanta, GA. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in St. Petersburg, FL.

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Colony Capital and Colony Financial (NYSE: CLNY) have originated a $206 million maximum principal senior secured term loan facility to William Lyon Homes.

PRESS RELEASE

Investment vehicles managed by Colony Capital, LLC, and Colony Financial, Inc. (NYSE: CLNY) (“Colony Financial”), a newly formed real estate finance company focused on acquiring, originating and managing commercial mortgage loans, today announced the origination of a $206 million maximum principal senior secured term loan facility to William Lyon Homes. Colony Financial will fund $50 million of this loan facility alongside $156 million to be funded by the other participating investment funds managed by Colony Capital.

Colony Capital and Colony Financial were selected to provide this first lien mortgage financing based on their extensive experience in real estate financing, competitive terms, timing, certainty of funding and the ability to negotiate and close the transaction in a short period.

“With more than 50 years of experience in the homebuilding industry, William Lyon Homes has built an envious operating record through multiple housing cycles,” said Thomas J. Barrack Jr., founder, chairman and CEO of Colony Capital. “We believe in the long-term fundamentals of the industry and are encouraged by the recent improvement in housing fundamentals. General Lyon has built a superb company and a best-in-class management team, which is well-positioned to take advantage of extremely attractive opportunities the industry has not seen for several decades.”

General William Lyon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of William Lyon Homes, stated, “We are extremely pleased to announce the completion of our senior secured term loan facility with Colony Capital. Colony’s excellent reputation and long history of success in real estate financing make them the ideal partner, and this transaction has laid a foundation for a strong relationship.”

Bill H. Lyon, President and Chief Operating Officer of William Lyon Homes, added, “The liquidity provided by this facility provides William Lyon Homes with the resources and flexibility to capitalize on opportunities in the marketplace and to continue with our strategic initiatives.”

William Lyon Homes intends to use the proceeds from this facility to enhance liquidity, repurchase debt and restructure its balance sheet, as well as for opportunistic land acquisitions and general corporate purposes.

“We are pleased to have the opportunity to execute such a significant high-yielding, quality investment just three weeks after our initial public offering,” said Richard Saltzman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Colony Financial. “This first major investment is a testament to the relationships we enjoy in the commercial real estate marketplace and is viewed as a prototype for future transactions within the REIT. The attractive yield profile, high cash pay feature and first-lien security within the capital structure are what make this transaction attractive to Colony Financial. We are being selective in our asset allocation, focused on building the optimal portfolio for the long term.”

About William Lyon Homes

William Lyon Homes is primarily engaged in the design, construction and sale of new single-family detached and attached homes in California, Arizona and Nevada. Its corporate headquarters is located in Newport Beach, California. For more information about William Lyon Homes and its new home developments, please visit its website at www.lyonhomes.com.

About Colony Capital, LLC

Founded in 1991 by Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Thomas J. Barrack, Jr., Colony Capital is a private, international investment firm focusing primarily on debt and equity investments in real estate-related assets and operating companies. The firm has invested more than $39 billion in over 8,800 assets through various corporate, portfolio and complex property transactions. Colony has a staff of more than 200 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, with offices in New York, Boston, Hawaii, London, Madrid, Paris, Rome, Beirut, Hong Kong, Beijing, Tokyo, Seoul and Taipei. For more information, visit www.colonyinc.com.

About Colony Financial, Inc.

Colony Financial is a newly formed real estate finance company that will focus primarily on acquiring, originating and managing commercial mortgage loans, which may be performing, sub-performing or non-performing loans (including loan-to-own strategies), other commercial real estate-related debt investments, CMBS, REO properties and other real estate-related assets. Colony Financial intends to elect and qualify to be taxed as a real estate investment trust, or REIT, for U.S. federal income tax purposes. For more information, visit www.colonyfinancial.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to expectations, beliefs, projections, future plans and strategies, anticipated events or trends and similar expressions concerning matters that are not historical facts. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by the use of forward-looking terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts,” or “potential” or the negative of these words and phrases or similar words or phrases which are predictions of or indicate future events or trends and which do not relate solely to historical matters. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, assumptions and contingencies, many of which are beyond Colony Financial’s or William Lyon Homes’ control, that may cause actual results to differ significantly from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.

Colony Financial’s statements regarding the following subjects, among others, may be forward-looking: use of proceeds of the offering; business and investment strategy; projected operating results; actions and initiatives of the U.S. Government, including the establishment of the TALF and the PPIP, and changes to U.S. Government policies and the execution and impact of these actions, initiatives and policies; the ability to obtain financing arrangements; financing and advance rates for Colony Financial’s target assets; expected leverage; general volatility of the securities markets in which Colony Financial invests; expected investments; expected co-investment allocations and related requirements; interest rate mismatches between Colony Financial’s target assets and its borrowings used to fund such investments; changes in interest rates and the market value of Colony Financial’s target assets; changes in prepayment rates on Colony Financial’s target assets; effects of hedging instruments on Colony Financial’s target assets; rates of default or decreased recovery rates on Colony Financial’s target assets; the degree to which hedging strategies may or may not protect Colony Financial from interest rate volatility; impact of changes in governmental regulations, tax law and rates, and similar matters; Colony Financial’s ability to maintain its qualification as a REIT for U.S. federal income tax purposes; Colony Financial’s ability to maintain its exemption from registration under the 1940 Act; availability of investment opportunities in mortgage-related and real estate-related investments and other securities; availability of qualified personnel; estimates relating to Colony Financial’s ability to make distributions to its stockholders in the future; Colony Financial’s understanding of its competition; and market trends in Colony Financial’s industry, interest rates, real estate values, the debt securities markets or the general economy.

For a further discussion of these and other factors that could cause Colony Financial’s future results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements, see the section entitled “Risk Factors” in Colony Financial’s final prospectus relating to this offering, and other risks described in documents subsequently filed by Colony Financial from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

The principal factors that could cause William Lyon Homes’ actual performance and future events and actions to differ materially from forward-looking statements included herein, include, but are not limited to, persisting weakness or worsening in general economic conditions either nationally or in regions in which William Lyon Homes operates, persisting weakness or worsening in the markets for residential housing, further decline in real estate values resulting in further impairment of the company’s real estate assets, volatility in the banking industry and credit markets, terrorism or other hostilities involving the United States, whether an ownership change occurred which could, under certain circumstances, have resulted in the limitation of William Lyon Homes’ ability to offset prior years’ taxable income with net operating losses, changes in home mortgage interest rates, changes in generally accepted accounting principles or interpretations of those principles, change in government legislation and/or rules under the tax code which could affect the results of operations, changes in prices of homebuilding materials, labor shortages, adverse weather conditions, the occurrence of events such as landslides, soil subsidence and earthquakes that are uninsurable, not economically insurable or not subject to effective indemnification agreements, changes in governmental laws and regulations, whether William Lyon Homes is able to refinance the outstanding balances of its debt obligations at their maturity, the time of receipt of regulatory approvals and the opening of projects and the availability and cost of land for future growth. For a further discussion of these and other factors that could cause William Lyon Homes’ future results to differ materially from any forward-looking statements, see Item 1A, “Risk Factors” contained in William Lyon Homes’ Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2008.

All forward-looking statements regarding each party reflect such party’s good faith beliefs, assumptions and expectations, but they are not guarantees of future performance. Furthermore, both Colony Financial and William Lyon Homes disclaim any obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement to reflect changes in underlying assumptions or factors, of new information, data or methods, future events or other changes.

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RedSeal Systems Inc., a San Mateo, Calif.-based provider of security posture management software, has raised $12 million. OVP Venture Partners led the round, and was joined by return backers Venrock, Jafco Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Leapfrog Ventures. The company has now raised more than $43 million in total VC funding.

PRESS RELEASE

RedSeal Systems, Inc. (www.redseal.net), the leading vendor of security posture management software, today announced that the security industry’s foremost venture capital firms have backed RedSeal with a $12 million investment. In addition, security executive Mark Ashida, managing director at OVP Venture Partners and former general manager of enterprise networking and authentication for Microsoft, has joined RedSeal’s board of directors. These moves represent a strong endorsement of RedSeal’s innovative solutions by the security financial community.

RedSeal develops software that automatically, comprehensively and continuously assesses the cybersecurity posture of an organization, identifying weaknesses before they can be exploited. The vast majority of data breaches experienced today, including those at Heartland Systems and TJX, are caused by relatively simple configuration errors that lurk unnoticed within an organization’s IT infrastructure until they are discovered by a hacker. These attacks can be stopped if the oversights are discovered in time, but today’s security infrastructures are far too complex and rapidly changing for manual reviews to be effective. RedSeal pinpoints configuration oversights and vulnerabilities that create risk, ensuring that the organization’s existing investment in firewalls, routers, patch management and security personnel is effectively protecting critical information assets.

“RedSeal addresses perhaps the most fundamental security issue facing corporations and government agencies today,” said Mark Ashida. “Cyber defenses are enormously intricate, and the smallest hole could allow a hacker to defeat them. Using RedSeal, CISOs, CIOs and CEOs can be confident that they are protecting their organizations from the nearly constant cyber attacks occurring today.”

The security industry’s leading venture capital firms funded the $12 million investment in RedSeal. The round was led by OVP Venture Partners, the most experienced venture capital firm in the Northwest. OVP’s prior security investments include Foundstone (acquired by McAfee), Watchguard Technologies and Avenda Systems. OVP was joined by existing investors Venrock, Jafco Ventures, Sutter Hill Ventures and Leapfrog Ventures. The total investment by these firms in RedSeal’s advanced technology now exceeds $43 million.

Mark Ashida brings deep expertise in the IT security market to RedSeal’s board of directors. Until 2007, he led Microsoft’s $450 million networking infrastructure and authentication business. He previously served as Chief Operating Officer of Intertrust, the leader in secure distribution technology for digital goods. Before joining Intertrust, Mark was a General Manager at Intel Architecture Labs.

“Protecting critical business assets from hackers is complex—not impossible,” said Tom Arthur, CEO of RedSeal Systems. “With RedSeal, businesses can dramatically improve their security without spending an additional dime on security devices. We’re pleased that security leaders of the caliber of OVP and Mark Ashida have recognized the power and importance of this solution.”

About RedSeal Systems, Inc.
RedSeal Systems develops security posture management software that enables organizations to assess and strengthen their cyber-defenses. Unlike systems that detect attacks once they occur, RedSeal identifies holes in the security infrastructure that could be exploited—before they are discovered by hackers. RedSeal software analyzes and simplifies the complex interaction of firewalls, routers, load balancers and hosts, delivering in-depth understanding of overall security posture, continuous compliance with regulations such as PCI, FISMA, and SOX, and actionable steps for risk remediation. For more information, visit RedSeal at www.redseal.net.

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Aurora Capital Group has completed its purchase of Porex from HLTH Corp. (Nasdaq: HLTH). The deal was valued at $142 million, including $74.5 million in cash payable at closing and $67.5 million in senior secured debt. Porex makes porous plastic products and components used in healthcare, industrial and consumer applications.

PRESS RELEASE

Aurora Capital Group (”Aurora”), a Los Angeles-based private equity firm with over $2.0 billion of assets under management, today announced that it has completed the acquisition of Porex Corporation (”Porex” or the “Company”), formerly a wholly owned subsidiary of HLTH Corporation (Nasdaq: HLTH), for $142 million in cash and senior secured debt.

Gerald L. Parsky, Chairman of Aurora Capital Group, said, “We look forward to working with Porex’s management team and talented employees to build upon the Company’s past achievements. Aurora is committed to helping Porex expand its strong market position in porous plastics and further enhance its materials science expertise in support of its global customer base.”

John T. Mapes, Managing Partner of Aurora Capital Group, added, “We are pleased with the successful completion of our acquisition of Porex. Importantly, this transaction, which follows our acquisition of RecoverCare and MedaSTAT, marks Aurora’s second platform acquisition to close since the summer. Our investment discipline during the surge in private equity transactions of recent years has allowed us to capitalize on attractive opportunities today. Aurora’s increased acquisition pace is a testament to our enthusiasm about the current investing environment.”

As previously announced, in August 2009 Aurora completed the purchase and merger-of-equals transaction to combine RecoverCare, LLC, and MedaSTAT USA, LLC, to create a leading provider of wound care and bariatric treatment solutions for acute and post-acute care markets.

Additionally, Aurora portfolio companies have executed six portfolio company tuck-in acquisitions in 2009, with two transactions completed by each of Anthony International, a leader in the U.S. commercial refrigeration industry and the world’s largest manufacturer of specialty glass, Mitchell International, a leading provider of information services and technology solutions designed to automate and optimize the automobile insurance claims and workers’ compensation claims processes, and NuCO2 Incorporated, the nation’s largest and sole national provider of bulk CO2 equipment rental and refill solutions.

ABOUT AURORA CAPITAL GROUP

Aurora is a Los Angeles-based private equity firm managing over $2.0 billion that utilizes two distinct investment strategies. Aurora Equity focuses principally on control-investments in middle-market industrial, manufacturing and selected service oriented businesses, each with a leading position in sustainable niches, a strong cash flow profile, and actionable opportunities for both operational and strategic enhancement. Aurora Resurgence invests in debt and equity securities of middle-market companies and targets complex situations that are created by operational or financial challenges either within a company or a broader industry. For more information about Aurora Capital Group, visit www.auroracap.com or www.aurorares.com.

ABOUT POREX CORPORATION

Founded in 1961 and based in Fairburn, GA, Porex is the leading global developer, manufacturer and distributor of porous plastic products. The Company primarily serves the healthcare and surgical end markets, and also supports high-performance applications in the consumer and industrial sectors. Porex products serve filtration, venting, wicking, and diffusing functions in applications such as blood filters, catheter vents, fuel filters, writing instrument tips and consumable diagnostic tests. In addition, through its MEDPOR brand, Porex’s surgical products are the first FDA-cleared porous plastic implants for use in craniofacial and orbital reconstructive surgery. Porex, which pioneered porous plastic technology over 40 years ago, is today widely recognized for its materials science expertise and proprietary designs which serve over 1,250 customers across more than 75 countries via operations in North America, Europe and Asia. For more information about Porex Corporation, visit www.porex.com.

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Hanley Truck Line LLC, a provider of truckload transportation in the Pacific Northwest, has acquired the operating assets of Washington-based Puget Sound Truck Lines Inc. and Oregon-based Nickel Plate Express Inc. No pricing terms were disclosed for the acquisition, which was financed by Hanley Truck management and existing equity sponsor Evergreen Pacific Partners.

PRESS RELEASE

Haney Truck Line, LLC (Haney), a leading provider of truckload transportation in the Pacific Northwest, today announced the purchase of the operating assets of Washington-based Puget Sound Truck Lines, Inc. (PSTL) and Oregon-based Nickel Plate Express, Inc. (NPE). The combined entities, which will operate under the Haney brand, create one of the largest West Coast truckload transportation fleets. The transaction was facilitated by Haney’s senior management team as well as through its equity partner, Seattle-based Evergreen Pacific Partners, which manages $700 million of equity and invests in private, traditional industry, middle-market companies in Western North America.

In addition to the operating assets, Haney Truck Line will assume leased property in Eugene and Portland, Ore., Commerce and Woodland, Calif., and in Everett, Bellingham and Tacoma, Wash., adding to the five terminals and various other parking yards Haney already maintains throughout the Northwest.

“This transaction will allow us to better serve existing customers, offer compelling expanded service offerings to new customers, and provide greater capacity to the broader West Coast truckload market,” said Mike Richardson, president of Haney Truck Line.

With 165 tractors and 466 trailers, and 65 contractors PSTL and NPE are among the oldest and most recognized truckload carriers in the Pacific Northwest and California. With more than 500 employees, 400 tractors and 1,000 trailers, Haney is one of the largest truckload carriers in the greater Pacific Northwest.

The companies carry products including beverages, paper, glass, aluminum, food and other general commodities throughout eight Western states. They offer a variety of services, including common and contract carriage, dedicated resources, logistics services and single source transportation programs utilizing 53’ dry vans, 53’ heavy-haul vans, and flatbeds. Haney will add inter-modal services to its service portfolio as a result of the transaction. The companies all maintain among the finest safety records in the trucking industry.

This is the eighth transaction for Evergreen Pacific Partners and the fourth in the state of Washington. Collectively, there are more than 2,000 employees working for the Washington state companies in which Evergreen Pacific Partners has invested. The company focuses on traditional buyouts, management led buyouts and growth equity investments in middle-market companies operating in traditional industries.

“This transaction fits the strategic opportunity we saw to grow Haney’s market share in the West,” said T. J. McGill, co-founding partner of Evergreen. “Haney operates one of the largest, and most respected, fleets in the region and we look forward to continuing to help them grow.”

About Haney Truck Line

Haney Truck Line, LLC provides customized, mission critical truckload transportation solutions to quality driven customers shipping in and between Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada as well as British Columbia and Alberta, Canada. Providing a complimentary palette of services, Haney leverages extensive experience, integrated technological systems, and a honed proprietary approach to deliver industry leading performance. More information is available on the web at www.gohaney.com.

About Evergreen Pacific Partners

Based in Seattle, Wash., Evergreen Pacific Partners (www.eppcapital.com) currently manages two private equity funds totaling $700 million, with a focus on investing in traditional, middle-market companies in Western North America. Evergreen Pacific was co-founded by Timothy Bernardez, T. J. McGill, and Michael Nibarger. Evergreen Pacific’s acquisitions and investments include Western Broadband (Phoenix, Ariz.), Finest City Broadcasting (San Diego, Calif.), Gene Juarez Salons & Spas (Seattle, Wash.), Haney Truck Line (Yakima, Wash.), Nuprecon (Snoqualmie, Wash.) and CST Environmental (Brea, Calif.).

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US Liner Co., a Cranberry Township, Penn.-based maker of thermoplastic composite solutions, has received a minority equity investment from Sverica International. No financial terms were disclosed.

PRESS RELEASE

Sverica International has acquired a minority stake in US Liner Company (“USLCO”), a Division of American Made, LLC. USLCO is an innovative, industry leading manufacturer of thermoplastic composite solutions for a broad range of applications. Primary industries served include the truck trailer, rail transport, intermodal shipping container and recreational vehicle (RV) markets.

USLCO proprietary manufacturing process combines continuous glass fibers with tough, corrosion- and moisture-resistant polypropylene, in multilayer laminated structures creating a new class of versatile sheet thermoplastic composite materials.

Starting in late 1990s with Bulitex® and today with its next generation thermoplastic Versitex®, USLCO has changed the way industries have used traditional materials such as wood, steel, aluminum and FRP by providing better physical and mechanical properties at an attractive price point.

David Finley, Managing Director at Sverica International, commented: “We at Sverica are very excited about the relationship with US Liner. Mike LaRocco has built a great company and we are confident that together we can capture the tremendous opportunity represented by US Liner’s Versitex product. US Liner has established strong positions in key transportation markets that will continue to benefit as the economy recovers. By fully exploiting those current markets and selectively expanding into new ones where the Versitex value proposition is highly compelling, US Liner has a bright future in front of it.”

Mike LaRocco, Founder/CEO of US Liner, added “We’re not only surviving through very difficult global economic conditions, but are actually growing market share because we simply developed a better mousetrap. With Sverica behind us, we now can continue to serve and grow our existing customer base, but also expand our reach to new, untapped industries that will benefit from Versitex. USLCO is stronger and poised to deliver excellence in every facet of our business.”

About US Liner Company

Headquartered near Pittsburgh, in Cranberry Township, PA, U.S. Liner Company is a division of American Made, LLC, which was founded by Michael LaRocco in 1983. Since 1998, the company has been a leading supplier of composite materials that are widely used in the truck/trailer market and supports an ever-widening range of applications in the automotive, RV, refrigerated rail, intermodal transportation, building products, and military markets. For more information, please visit www.uslco.com

About Sverica International

Sverica International is a leading private equity firm with over $425 million of assets under management across three funds. The firm acquires, invests in and actively builds companies that are or could become leaders in their industries. Since 1993, Sverica has maintained a “high touch” operating philosophy of taking an active role in portfolio companies. Sverica devotes significant internal resources to help its management teams develop and execute growth strategies. For more information, please visit www.sverica.com

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TEAK Midstream LLC, a Dallas, Texas-based midstream energy startup, has raised $100 million in private equity funding from Natural Gas Partners. TEAK was launched by Crosstex Energy co-founders Chris Aulds and James Wales.

PRESS RELEASE

TEAK Midstream, LLC today announced that it has secured a $100 million private equity investment from Natural Gas Partners (NGP), a leading energy private equity firm based in Irving, Texas. TEAK, a Dallas-based midstream start-up, will use the private equity investment to acquire and develop midstream assets in key gas producing areas of the United States.

TEAK Midstream is led by A. Chris Aulds and James R. Wales. Together, Aulds and Wales have more than 55 years of oil and gas industry experience and proven expertise launching and growing start-up midstream companies. Prior to starting TEAK, they were two of the original three founders of Crosstex Energy, Inc. (NASDAQ symbol: XTXI) where they were instrumental in growing the company from a $4 million start-up in 1996 to a $3 billion publicly traded company at the time of their departure in 2007.

“TEAK’s solid financial backing from Natural Gas Partners combined with our experience starting and growing midstream companies provides a unique blend of business acumen and access to capital,” says TEAK Co-Chief Executive James R. Wales.

Through strategic acquisitions and greenfield projects, TEAK will provide midstream services including gathering, transmission, treating, processing, compression, marketing and price risk management. The company will initially focus on gas production areas in Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Mississippi with anticipated geographic expansion based on customer needs.

“Jim and I look forward to working with industry colleagues again,” says TEAK Co-Chief Executive A. Chris Aulds. “The timing is right for a new customer service oriented midstream company with proven experience acquiring and developing midstream assets to support our customer’s growth plans. The capital investment from our private equity partner will assist in our ability to meet customer needs.”

About A. Chris Aulds

Prior to founding TEAK Midstream, Aulds was a senior executive and founding partner at Crosstex Energy Services. While at Crosstex, he managed several divisions of the company including the Producer Services Group, Treating Division and Crosstex’ Eastern Division which included transmission, gathering and processing in East Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and eastern Oklahoma. Prior to starting Crosstex, Aulds was Vice President of gas supply and marketing for Comstock Natural Gas; Vice President in charge of gas supply, marketing, new business development and risk management services at Victoria Gas Corporation; and held field engineering and natural gas marketing roles at Mobil Oil Corporation. Aulds has a B.S. in Petroleum Engineering from Texas Tech University.

About James R. Wales

Prior to founding TEAK Midstream, Wales was a senior executive and founding partner at Crosstex Energy Services. While at Crosstex, he led the business development group; managed the company’s Southern Division including transmission, gathering and processing in South and North Texas; and served as head of the Commercial Division. Prior to starting Crosstex, Wales was one of the founders of Sunrise Energy Services, Inc. He helped build Sunrise from a start-up to one of the largest publicly traded independent natural gas marketing companies in the United States. Prior to starting Sunrise, Wales held positions with Producers Gas Company, a subsidiary of Lear Petroleum; Triumph Natural Gas, Inc.; and Union Carbide. He is a former Chairman of the National Energy Services Association. He has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Law Degree from the South Texas College of Law.

About TEAK Midstream

TEAK Midstream LLC provides gathering, transmission, treating, processing, compression, marketing and price risk management services in key gas producing areas of the United States. For more information on TEAK Midstream, visit www.teakmidstream.com

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Kai-Ching Lin has joined Houlihan Lokey as a managing director, focused on the valuation of complex securities. Lin previously was a managing director in the financial engineering practice of Duff & Phelps.

PRESS RELEASE

Houlihan Lokey, an international investment bank, announced today that Dr. Kai-Ching Lin, Ph.D. has joined the firm’s New York office as a Managing Director, specializing in the valuation of complex securities including structured products and derivatives. Prior to joining the firm, Dr. Lin was a managing director in the Financial Engineering practice of Duff & Phelps, LLC. Earlier, he was the global head of quantitative methodology in the valuation risk group at Credit Suisse, where he was responsible for developing valuation risk methodology for the trading of derivatives tied to products such as: equities, interest rates, credit, mortgages, commodities and life insurance.

Commenting on the hire, Michael A. Fazio, Managing Director and Global Head of Portfolio Valuation & Advisory Services, said, “We are excited that Dr. Lin has chosen to join Houlihan Lokey’s platform, and even more excited to be able to offer his expertise to our clients. Dr. Lin has more than 12 years of experience in financial consulting in addition to his academic tenure and deep experience valuing the complex securities currently held by many financial institutions. We look forward to having Dr. Lin as part of our team.”

Dr. Lin added, “Houlihan Lokey has established itself as an authority in the valuation of complex securities and derivatives on behalf of hedge funds, other financial institutions and even government entities. As institutions continue to struggle with the valuation of these instruments, particularly in light of evolving standards for mark-to-market accounting, Houlihan Lokey is well-positioned to help clients face these challenges. I am delighted to join the firm.”

Dr. Lin received his B.S. from National Taiwan University and a Ph.D. in mathematics from UCLA. He taught and conducted research at various academic institutions, including the University of Chicago, the University of Wisconsin, UCLA, the Mathematical Science Research Institute and the University of Alabama. He was also Associate Editor of Financial Analysts Journal (FAJ), a publication for Chartered Financial Analysts.

Houlihan Lokey’s Portfolio Valuation & Advisory Services provide hedge funds, private equity firms, other investment managers and financial institutions with independent third-party valuation and advisory services for their illiquid assets. The firm values a broad range of securities and instruments including: illiquid debt and equity securities, mortgage-backed securities (MBS), collateralized debt obligations (CDO), collateralized loan obligations (CLO) and complex derivative instruments. The firm’s expertise in the valuation of complex securities and instruments has been particularly relevant in its advisory roles to creditors of both Lehman Brothers Holdings and CIT Group. In June 2009, the firm was appointed to a new expert group formed by the International Valuation Standards Committee (IVSC) on the valuation of financial assets and liabilities.

About Houlihan Lokey

Houlihan Lokey, an international investment bank, provides a wide range of advisory services in the areas of mergers and acquisitions, financing, financial restructuring, and valuation. The firm was ranked the No. 1 M&A advisor for U.S. transactions under $2 billion in 2008 and the No. 1 U.S. fairness opinion advisor over the past 10 years by Thomson Reuters. In addition, the firm advised on more than 500 restructuring transactions valued in excess of $1.25 trillion over the past 10 years. Notable engagements cover numerous sectors and virtually all of the largest U.S. corporate bankruptcies, including Lehman Brothers, General Motors, WorldCom and Enron. The firm has more than 800 employees in 14 offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. Each year we serve more than 1,000 clients ranging from closely held companies to Global 500 corporations.

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The Prime Minister has written a letter to Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness outlining his proposals for a financial settlement on Northern Ireland policing and justice.

Gordon Brown said the proposals are designed to make it possible to complete the final stage of devolution in Northern Ireland.

• Read the PM’s letter

Mr Brown said he believed the settlement outlined in the letter was a “good settlement” which would “meet the needs of a devolved Justice Department”.

In the letter he said:

“Together we have, I believe, achieved an outcome in which we each have confidence and which will ensure that when policing and justice powers are transferred, the Northern Ireland Justice Department will have a secure financial foundation which we all recognise is important in ensuring confidence in the policing and justice services across the community.”

The PM said in the letter that his discussions with Peter Robinson and Martin McGuinness had been “careful, detailed and considered”.

“I believe that this is a very strong settlement which will ensure that all the people of Northern Ireland continue to have high quality policing and justice services.”