Griffin, Stevens & Lee and RCP Holdings Launch Griffin Risk Capital Partners, LLC

PHILADELPHIA AND NEW YORK, OCTOBER 12, 2010 – Joseph M. Harenza, CEO of Griffin Financial Group, Ernie Choquette, Stevens & Lee President, and Nemo Perera, CEO of Risk Capital Partners, today announced the creation of Griffin Risk Capital Partners, LLC (Griffin RCP), a joint venture between RCP Holdings (RCP), Griffin Holdings Group and Stevens & Lee.

“As RCP is a proven innovator in the insurance and reinsurance markets, we expect that the partnership will substantially enhance our platform’s ability to structure non-traditional insurance-related solutions for both current and new clients,” said Mr. Harenza. “Our deep understanding of the economic drivers in sectors like banking, private equity and healthcare combined with RCP’s unique risk mitigation perspective will lead to revenue-generating solutions that will benefit all of our clientele.”  

“The insurance industry has always been important to Stevens & Lee and is an area where we see a lot of opportunity for continued growth,” said firm President Ernie Choquette. “The addition of RCP to our platform is in keeping with our goal of expanding our segment expertise and capabilities to provide greater value to our clients.”

Nemo Perera has been named CEO of the new joint venture. “Griffin, Stevens & Lee and RCP are like-minded, taking an entrepreneurial approach to resolving unique challenges faced by our clients,” said Mr. Perera. “RCP utilizes insurance as an alternative source of capital to help mitigate these challenges, unlocking profits for clients while providing new product development for the insurance and reinsurance markets.”

Under this joint venture, Griffin and Stevens & Lee will provide Griffin RCP with operational, management, legal and other support, bringing together our substantial and diverse industry experience and technical skill sets to architect, engineer, construct and market innovative insurance-related products for the insurance, banking, investment, health care and state and local government communities.

The joint venture combines RCP’s creativity, technical skill sets and contacts within the insurance and reinsurance market place with Griffin’s fund raising and capital markets capabilities and knowledge of the banking, hedge fund and private equity communities, along with Stevens & Lee’s regulatory and structured finance capabilities. The joint venture is also expected to leverage the partners’ combined legal, financial, tax accounting, structured finance and securitization capabilities to facilitate enhancements to RCP’s existing suite of sophisticated insurance products.

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ABOUT RCP
Founded in 2001, RCP is a boutique insurance consulting firm with offices in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New York and London. The firm’s experienced professionals are former insurance company executives with solid actuarial, modeling and quantitative skill sets and significant risk finance experience who maintain an extensive network in the insurance industry. RCP specializes in mitigating unconventional risks in the insurance and capital markets industries and has a successful track record in developing and brokering innovative premium finance, portfolio securitization, life settlement and customized M&A/bankruptcy and tax risk mitigation solutions for the insurance and financial communities.  For more information visit www.griffinrcp.com.

ABOUT GRIFFIN HOLDINGS GROUP
Griffin Holdings Group is the parent company of Griffin Financial Group, an investment bank specializing in assisting financial institutions in understanding their strategic and financial alternatives, raising capital and mergers and acquisitions. Among Griffin’s investment bankers are many former senior executive officers of financial institutions with hands-on operating and transactional experience. In addition, the firm’s staff includes in-house, industry-specific financial accounting and tax professionals with recent Big Four experience, which is unique among investment banks.

Griffin was recently licensed by FINRA to lead and participate in firm commitment public offerings and has added experienced staff to facilitate this service.

Griffin is a registered broker dealer and a FINRA and SIPC member. For more information visit www.go2griffin.com.

ABOUT STEVENS & LEE
Among the 200 largest law firms in the nation, Stevens & Lee is part of a multidisciplinary professional services platform, which in addition to Griffin, also consists of a D&O and E&O insurance risk consulting business, federal and state lobbying units, a health care risk consulting business and a government incentives and sales and use tax consulting business.