CHICAGO, IL – September 27, 2005 – Ritchie Capital Finance, the newly formed finance division of Ritchie Capital, is pleased to announce the creation of Ritchie Technology & Life SciencesFinance. Led by senior managing director, Bill DeMars, a financial services expert with 30 years experience, the team will provide a wide array of financing solutions to emerging growth companieswithin various stages of their life cycle.

Ritchie Technology & Life Sciences Finance will concentrate on several industry sectors backed by professional and institutional investors including: communications, information technology,semiconductors, hardware & software, electronics, clean energy in addition to the entire health care and life science spectrum. The financing solutions designed by the newly formed group involvean extensive debt product menu. The team will pursue debt transactions in the $1-25 million range and has considerable lending capacity at its disposal.

“Our finance team brings the kind of structured, innovative financing solutions technology and life science growth companies crave,” said Thane Ritchie, CEO of Ritchie Capital. “The team willcultivate natural synergies that exist within Ritchie Capital Management due to the firm’s current work with life science and technology growth companies on the equity side.”

The lead members of the financing team, Bill DeMars, Mike Marziani, and Mark King, joined Ritchie Capital in July and the firm is continuing to add professionals to build out the organization. Thisteam has been together continuously since 1998 and has consummated approximately 450 transactions with total commitments in excess of $900 million. Mr. DeMars is responsible for leading anddeveloping the firm’s finance business. Mike Marziani, managing director, is assigned to new business development/originations, and Mark King, CFA, managing director, heads risk and operations forthe Group.

Ritchie Capital is a diversified alternative asset management firm established in 1998 with interests in hedge funds, commodities, private equity, venture capital, insurance, energy and real estateand with offices in Chicago and Geneva IL, New York, London, Bermuda, Hong Kong and Menlo Park, CA.

Contact: Justin Meise, River Communications at 845-473-5692