Mr. Barry Shafran reports

NORTHSTAR LEASING ADDS DANNY LEBOVICS AND BILL TSIOBANOS TO ITS EXPERIENCED TEAM

Industry veterans Danny Lebovics and Bill Tsiobanos have joined Northstar Leasing Corp., a Chesswood Group Ltd. company, as president and vice-president of business development, respectively.

"The addition of Danny and Bill complements Northstar's experienced management team and completes the build out of Northstar, as it focuses on a national market presence in non-prime equipment finance," said Barry Shafran, Chesswood's president and chief executive officer.

"We acquired Northstar to give Chesswood a North American platform in small-ticket equipment finance. We are now able, through Northstar and our U.S. subsidiary, Pawnee Leasing, to offer a North American solution to our broker partners, and their vendors and customers. Northstar is a perfect fit for Chesswood, as its dedication to service and strong personal relationships with its broker partners are also hallmarks of Chesswood's business philosophy. Danny and Bill have proven track records in providing customer service excellence," added Mr. Shafran.

"I am very excited to join the Northstar team and proud to be a part of Chesswood. There are substantial synergies between Northstar and Pawnee, and I believe the Canadian non-prime small-ticket leasing market will be very receptive to our combination of ease of doing business, personal contact, simple processes and competitive pricing," said Mr. Lebovics. "Bill is an energetic sales leader, who will be a strong advocate for our broker partners and a catalyst for ensuring our product offering is leading edge. Since the acquisition by Chesswood, everyone at Northstar has been working diligently behind the scenes to prepare for our launch to the broader broker market across Canada," added Mr. Lebovics.

Mr. Lebovics comes to Northstar from MultiSource Capital, a small-ticket financier, where he was president and launched that company's product offering to the broader broker market in Canada. Prior to MultiSource, Mr. Lebovics held senior leadership positions with CIT and its predecessor, Newcourt. He has also practised as a lawyer and chartered accountant.

Before joining Northstar, Mr. Tsiobanos was vice-president with Syneron, a manufacturer of medical laser equipment, where he developed and oversaw finance programs in North America, Europe and Asia. Prior to Syneron, Mr. Tsiobanos held sales leadership positions with CIT and its predecessor, Newcourt.