GE Provides $250 Million Plan of Reorganization Credit Facility to Vertis Communications

GE Commercial Finance today announced it provided a $250 million senior secured plan of reorganization (POR) credit facility to Vertis Communications, a targeted print advertising and direct marketing solutions provider. The loan was used to refinance the company’s debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing upon the company’s emergence from a pre-packaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy. In July, GE Commercial Finance also provided the company with a $380 million DIP credit facility. GE Capital Markets arranged both transactions.

Headquartered in Baltimore, MD, Vertis has successfully exited from Chapter 11 and has merged with American Color Graphics. The newly combined company, which will operate under the Vertis Communications brand, combines Vertis’ proprietary customer research, database targeting technologies and media services with American Color Graphic’s offerings such as asset management, photography and digital workflow solutions that improve the effectiveness of advertising.

"We truly valued GE’s ability to provide the funds to help support our restructuring in such a volatile market environment,” said Mike DuBose, chairman and CEO of Vertis. "This exit financing allows Vertis to make significant improvements to our balance sheet, remain focused on customers, and leverage our unique expertise to help drive growth.”

"We’re pleased to have provided financing to help support Vertis as they continue to strengthen their business through this restructuring and merger,” said Alan Garson, vice president at GE Global Sponsor Finance. "In a very uncertain market, GE was able to reliably deliver a capital structure to meet their needs.”

"We specialize in working closely with clients to provide the necessary restructuring finance to help support their turnaround strategies,” said Rob McMahon, managing director of Restructuring Finance at GE Corporate Lending.

GE is the top bankruptcy lender in 2008 in the most recent rankings published by Bankruptcy Insider.

About GE Commercial Finance

GE Commercial Finance, which offers businesses around the globe an array of financial products and services, has assets of over $300 billion and is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut. Visit http://www.gelending.com for more information. GE (NYSE: GE) is a diversified global infrastructure, finance and media company that is built to meet essential world needs. From energy, water, transportation and health to access to money and information, GE serves customers in more than 100 countries and employs more than 300,000 people worldwide. GE is Imagination at Work. For more information, visit the company's Web site at http://www.ge.com.