Financial Advisory Firm Appoints Jim Vincent Managing Director to Head the Real Estate Division

DALLAS (Sept. 10, 2009) - Barrier Advisors, a nationally recognized middle-market restructuring, operations improvement and special situations investment banking firm, today announced the formation of a strategic alliance with FrontLine Partners, a Dallas-based real estate consulting and investment firm led by real estate finance veteran Jim Vincent. Named a managing director, Mr. Vincent will be responsible for leading Barrier's real estate and financial services corporate restructuring division.

According to Kent Laber, president of Barrier Advisors, the corporate restructuring skills of Barrier Advisors coupled with FrontLine's real estate and structured finance expertise have proven to be a powerful combination. Working together since March 2009, Barrier/FrontLine currently represent a group of lenders holding nearly $900 million in debt of a complex, structured commercial real estate finance REIT.

The terms of the agreement, signed on Sept. 1, call for the Barrier/FrontLine team to continue working on their current engagement, and to begin collaborating on new commercial real estate and related financial services corporate restructuring projects. As experts in corporate restructuring and real estate finance, the new alliance plans to work on helping business owners, lenders, investors and other stakeholders with real estate entity level workouts, restructurings, liquidations and divestitures.

Using dedicated teams of real estate and finance experts, Barrier/FrontLine has the capability to serve both management and stakeholders through challenging and often complex restructuring situations. Services provided under the new Barrier alliance will include:

• Board / Ownership / Creditor Advisory
  • Strategic Business Review
  • Keep-Close-Sell Analysis
  • Strategic and Financial Alternatives Analysis
• Recovery and Turnaround Services
  • Business Planning & Repositioning
  • Profitability / Cash Flow Improvement
  • Cost Reduction / Containment
  • Marketing / Sales Strategies
  • Productivity / Efficiency Enhancements
• Divestiture and Disposition Services
• Interim / Transitional Management, CRO Assignments.

"Commercial real estate financial structures are being stressed by the recession," said Laber. "Lenders and borrowers benefit from the Barrier/FrontLine team's experience and independent thinking. Barrier's recognized financial restructuring expertise combined with FrontLine Partners' real estate and structured finance expertise enables the alliance to deliver the highest level of restructuring services, tailor made for the needs of real estate clients."

"As a leader in middle-market corporate restructuring, Barrier is on the forefront of restructuring market trends which is the reason we were attracted to them as a partner," noted Vincent. "Partnering with Barrier Advisors provides clients of both firms with the expertise in the fields of commercial real estate finance and restructuring necessary to solve the capital structure and recovery issues facing borrowers and lenders in this economy. The mission of the Barrier/FrontLine alliance is to deliver the most innovative and effective solutions to difficult real estate restructuring situations."

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