United Kingdom

Ansbacher & Co Ltd.

The Ansbacher Banking Group is delighted to announce the appointment of Nikolas Kouros and Ying Lau to its market leading Specialist Lending Team. Nikolas and Ying will both report to Bob Bates, Head of Specialist Lending, and will be based at the Bank’s London office. Nikolas Kouros joins Ansbacher from Deutsche Bank AG. Prior to working at Deutsche Bank AG, Nikolas held senior, marine finance positions with Fortis Bank NV/S.A. Athens in Greece and Aegean Baltic Bank S.A. Ying Lau joins Ansbacher from Bank of Scotland Private Bank, where she was a Relationship Manager. With over 10 years experience in the private bank and wealth management sectors, Ying previously worked at Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays Bank. Bob Bates, Head of Specialist Lending at Ansbacher, comments: “Ansbacher’s position as a leader in the provision of specialist lending products to high net worth individuals has strengthened in 2007 and to date it has been a record year for the Specialist Lending team. With the added experience of Nikolas and Ying, the team is ideally positioned to continue this growth through 2008.<noscript></noscript>

Ansbacher strengthens specialist lending team

Ansbacher &amp; Co Limited (London) has acquired US$41 million of the super-yacht finance portfolio from debis Financial Services, Inc. of the USA and DaimlerChrysler Capital Services (debis) Australia Pty. Ltd. The addition of this new portfolio will further enhance Ansbacher’s status as one of the world’s leading financiers in this specialist market. The portfolio covers loans ranging from US$2m to US$12m for yachts owned by high net worth clients in North, Central and South America, as well as Australia.Ken Griggs, Ansbacher’s head of specialist lending, commented on the transfer: “We are delighted to have taken over these loans from debis. The company has an excellent reputation in the world of international finance, and we are confident that we will be able to sustain and uphold the high standards of customer service that they have set.” The Ansbacher Group also includes Sarnia Yachts and the two firms are well known and very well established in the yacht finance and administration world. Ansbacher was advised by shipping finance partner Tony Rice of City law firm Denton Wilde Sapte and by Hadley Roe of Seward &amp; Kissel LLP in New York. debis was advised by Leo Chang of the New York office of Watson Farley &amp; Williams.<noscript></noscript>