Middle East Capital Group Licenses STARS VST™

MECG and Lewtan Technologies on the Forefront of Securitization in the Middle East

For Immediate Release

Contact:
Jay Lebed
Lewtan Technologies, Inc®
781-672-1130
jlebed@lewtan.com
www.lewtan.com

January 17, 1997, Waltham, MA - Lewtan Technologies ("Lewtan"), the leading provider of software, data and analytics to the global securitisation industry, today announced that the Middle East Capital Group, a regional Investment and Merchant Bank headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon has licensed the STARS Visual Structuring System (VST). STARS VST is an object-based system used for conceptualizing, modeling, stress testing, communicating and reverse engineering asset-backed and mortgage-backed transactions.

The Middle East Capital Group (MECG) is a client driven institution structuring its products and services to meet the growing demands of its targeted clients and to contribute to the development of the Capital Markets in the Middle East. MECG counts among its core shareholders BZW, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC, the Bin Mahfouz Family whose investment is managed by the National Commercial Bank of Saudi Arabia (NCB) and the International Finance Corporation (IFC) member of the World Bank. Complementing the core institutional shareholders are prominent Middle Eastern business people and investors. Ziad Makkawi, Managing Director at MECG asserts, "The Middle East and North Africa, like other emerging regions, will see an acceleration in the development of its Capital Markets. Securitization will provide both institutions and investors with exciting and new opportunities. Because MECG intends to be a leader in securitization for the Middle East and North Africa, we have invested in cutting-edge securitization technology. VST’s flexibility increases our speed to market and adds significant value to our operations." Kemal Ahmed of the International Finance Corporation adds, "MECG is a premier Investment Bank. With its ease of use, and broad range of functionality, STARS VST helps them meet the diverse needs of an expansive client base."

MECG’s purchase of STARS VST is indicative of Lewtan’s commitment towards establishing a worldwide presence in an increasingly international market. Lewtan Technologies has done business in eleven countries, spanning five continents. Dr. Jay Lebed, Director of Lewtan Technologies’ Strategic Business Development comments, "We expect dynamic growth in international securitization over the next several years and are pleased to assist MECG in their securitization efforts." He added, "STARS VST’s cutting-edge technology will enable MECG to structure, stress test and market asset-backed deals quickly, accurately, and with consistency."

STARS VST is a breakthrough in visual modeling of complex financial transactions. It lets you draw a picture of a deal, and quickly simulate its performance under multiple what-if scenarios. With STARS VST, even the most complex structure can be designed quickly. By simply dragging pre-defined objects (such as tranches, cashflows, and triggers) into the workspace, drawing lines to connect the objects (the lines represent cash or information flows), the results are immediately visible in user-defined graphs and tables. STARS VST comes complete with pre-defined securitization objects and also provides a multitude of reverse engineered deals, which are indicative of the most recent structuring trends and are the starting point for engineering new deals. For the power-user, STARS VST offers a comprehensive visual development environment for building customized objects.

About Lewtan Technologies, Inc.

Lewtan Technologies, Inc.® is the leading provider of software, data and analytics to the global securitization industry. Founded in 1986, Lewtan serves over 200 securitization customers worldwide. In 1999, Lewtan, working with an industry consortium including Standard "&" Poor's, Fitch, Bank One and others, launched ABSNet (www.absnet.net). ABSNet is now the leading Internet source of structured finance news, data, research and analytics, with over 6,000 users in more than 50 countries. Lewtan offers industry participants "Powered by ABSNet" solutions that leverage ABSNet's web infrastructure, database and user base. Solutions benefit issuers, CDO collateral managers, dealers, investors, credit enhancers, trustees, rating agencies and asset-backed CP conduit sponsors.