North Mill Press Room

Colford Capital Acquires Equilease Financial Services to Create North Mill Equipment Finance

Norwalk, CT, January 1, 2013 – For immediate release:

Colford Capital LLC, a holding company of diversified specialty finance businesses, announced today that it has acquired the assets of Equilease Financial Services, Inc.  Based in Norwalk, Connecticut, Equilease has extensive experience originating equipment leases and loans, as well as purchasing and servicing equipment lease and loan portfolios from banks and other specialty finance companies.

Colford has created a new subsidiary, North Mill Equipment Finance LLC, expressly for the purpose of acquiring Equilease, and has made a substantial equity investment into the new company, which will be used to originate new small-ticket leases through vendors, dealers and brokers and to purchase additional lease portfolios under the new North Mill Equipment Finance brand name.

Gary Silverhardt, President, CEO and owner of Equilease, has been named President and CEO of North Mill Equipment Finance and also a minority shareholder of the new entity.  Importantly, the Equilease team moves over to North Mill Equipment Finance and continues, at its current location, to provide its customers and stakeholders with the superior service for which Equilease has become known during its 55 year operating history.

Mr. Silverhardt stated, “We’re enthusiastic about the Colford investment, which enables us to expand our equipment leasing origination activities and to continue acquiring equipment lease portfolios in the secondary market, leveraging our industry leading servicing and collection operating platform.  We are looking forward to becoming an integral piece of a growth-oriented organization with a strategic commitment to the specialty finance industry.”

David C. Lee, President and CEO of Colford, added, “The acquisition of Equilease supports Colford’s strategy of building a diversified specialty finance and asset management business.  We’re excited to inject growth capital into North Mill Equipment Finance to enhance and leverage the strong origination and servicing platform Gary and his team have built.”

About Colford

Based in New York City, Colford is a holding company engaged in aggregating diversified specialty finance and asset management companies through acquisitions, strategic partnerships and new business development.  In addition to North Mill Equipment Finance, Colford owns North Mill Capital LLC, a national asset based lending and receivables factoring company based in Princeton, New Jersey.  North Mill Capital recently acquired PrinSource Capital, a receivables factoring company based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  North Mill Capital is a sister subsidiary of North Mill Equipment Finance and will continue to be managed by its founding CEO, Jeffrey Goldrich.  Colford is majority owned by Monitor Clipper Partners, a private equity firm that targets growth-oriented businesses with strong management teams and currently manages over $2 billion in capital, with minority investments by ALDA Capital, a private financial holding company managed by Al Gordon and Dan Zwirn, and management.  For more information, visitwww.colfordcapital.com.

About Equilease

Equilease has over 55 years of experience originating equipment leases and loans, as well as purchasing and servicing equipment lease and loan portfolios from banks and other specialty finance companies.  As a third-party servicer, the company has the capacity to handle thousands of accounts for multiple parties.  Since 2002, Equilease has purchased over 30 lease and loan portfolios representing over $1 billion of asset value.  For more information, visit www.northmillef.com.

For further information, contact:

Gary Silverhardt, President and CEO
North Mill Equipment Finance LLC
Phone: (203) 354-6006
Email: gsilverhardt@northmillef.com

David Lee, President and CEO
Colford Capital LLC
Phone: (646) 723-4282
Email: dlee@colfordcapital.com