Sunset Financial Appoints Stacy M. Riffe Interim Chief Executive Officer
21 Luglio 2006 - 1:28AM
PR Newswire (US)
JACKSONVILLE, Fla., July 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sunset
Financial Resources, Inc. (NYSE:SFO), today announced the
appointment of Stacy M. Riffe as Interim Chief Executive Officer,
which became effective July 14, 2006. Ms. Riffe replaces George
Deehan, who has decided to leave the Company to pursue other
interests. Ms. Riffe, 40, will also continue in her existing role
as Sunset's Chief Financial Officer. Rodney Bennett, Chairman of
the Board, stated, "Concurrent with our announced merger with
Alesco Financial, Sunset began operating under a management
agreement with Cohen Brothers. Since the announcement, Sunset has
made considerable progress in preparation for the merger and in
transitioning the Company's assets into new target asset classes.
Stacy has been the driving force during this period, managing these
efforts and establishing the necessary framework to ensure a
successful merger. We are highly confident in Stacy's abilities as
she continues to guide the Company through the remainder of the
merger process. We understand George's decision to pursue other
opportunities, and on behalf of the board I would like to thank
George for his contributions to Sunset Financial. We wish him well
in his future endeavors." Mr. Deehan added, "Since the announcement
of the merger and entry into the external management agreement, the
management team has worked diligently on all fronts. At this point
in the process, I feel the Company is well on its way to
successfully completing the merger. Stacy has been a tremendous
leader throughout the process and has spearheaded much of the
merger work in addition to her other responsibilities at Sunset.
She has proven herself ready for the task at hand." Ms. Riffe
concluded, "I am pleased with the substantial progress we have made
on the merger and look forward to bringing it to a successful
conclusion. We continue to make steady progress toward redeploying
our assets into new target asset classes under the external
management agreement. I remain confident in the underlying value of
the merger and believe the transaction is in the best interest of
all stockholders." On April 27, 2006, Sunset Financial and Alesco
Financial Trust announced a definitive agreement to merge and
entered into an interim management agreement. The merged company
will pursue Alesco's investment strategy focused on trust preferred
securities issued by banks and insurance companies, middle market
loans and residential mortgage backed securities. Under the
management agreement in place since April 27, 2006, Sunset has
begun redeploying its assets into assets consistent with Alesco's
investment strategy. To date Sunset has sold approximately $373
million of its residential mortgage-backed securities portfolio,
repaid related reverse repurchase agreements, terminated related
interest rate swap agreements and has redeployed the net proceeds
of approximately $24 million into a warehouse line of credit that
will support the accumulation of approximately $225 million of
trust preferred securities and also purchased 46% of the preferred
equity of an entity that issues loan obligations which are
collateralized by approximately $186 million of leveraged loans.
Additionally, Sunset has committed to sell approximately $441
million of its residential mortgage-backed securities portfolio for
settlement during the week of July 24, 2006. After repayment of
related reverse repurchase agreements and termination of certain
interest rate swaps, the Company will receive net proceeds of
approximately $26 million for redeployment into new assets. About
Sunset Financial Resources Sunset is a specialty finance REIT
headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida and trades on the New York
Stock Exchange under the symbol "SFO". Certain statements in this
news release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of the federal securities laws and involve risks,
uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual
performance of Sunset Financial Resources, Inc. to be materially
different from the performance expressed or implied by such
statements. These risks include the failure of the Company to
successfully execute its business plan, gain access to additional
financing, the availability of additional loan portfolios for
future acquisition, continued qualification as a REIT, the cost of
capital, as well as the additional risks and uncertainties detailed
in the Company's periodic reports and registration statements filed
with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Sunset has filed a
preliminary proxy statement/prospectus with the Securities and
Exchange Commission and will file a final proxy
statement/prospectus and a tender offer statement on Schedule TO
with the SEC. Investors are urged to read the proxy
statement/prospectus, the tender offer statement (including an
offer to purchase and related documents) when they becomes
available because they will contain important information. These
materials will be available free of charge at the SEC's website,
http://www.sec.gov/, or by directing a request to . Sunset, its
directors, and its executive officers may be considered
participants in the solicitation of proxies in connection with the
proposed transactions. Information about the directors and
executive officers of Sunset and their ownership of Sunset stock is
set forth in the 2005 Annual Report on Form 10K. Investors may
obtain additional information regarding the interests of such
participants by reading the proxy statement/prospectus for the
proposed merger when it becomes available. Contact: Investors:
Sunset Financial Resources KCSA Worldwide Stacy Riffe Jeffrey
Goldberger / Michael Cimini 904-425-4365 212.896.1249 /
212.896.1233 DATASOURCE: Sunset Financial Resources, Inc. CONTACT:
Stacy Riffe of Sunset Financial Resources, +1-904-425-4365, ;
Investors: Jeffrey Goldberger, +1-212-896-1249, , or Michael
Cimini, +1-212-896-1233, , both of KCSA Worldwide for Sunset
Financial Resources
Copyright
Grafico Azioni Sunset Financial (NYSE:SFO)
Storico
Da Mag 2024 a Giu 2024
Grafico Azioni Sunset Financial (NYSE:SFO)
Storico
Da Giu 2023 a Giu 2024