PREI(R) And Black Mountain Capital Launch Commercial Bridge Loan Program

Black Mountain and PREI's Global Merchant Banking Group, which isacting on behalf of institutional investors, are managing the jointventure, which is called PIM Black Mountain Domestic Venture I, LLC.The venture will initially be funded with $50 million of capital.

"We are excited to partner with the experienced team at BlackMountain to fund these high quality, yet complicated commercial loanopportunities," said John Gregorits, a managing director at PREI."Through Black Mountain, the venture is positioned to be more flexibleand creative than traditional real estate lenders. The venture willfill a void in the commercial finance industry by focusing on veryhigh quality funding opportunities that would not otherwise fit intotraditional lenders' underwriting criteria."

Said George Rogers, president of Black Mountain, "PREI, one of thelargest global real estate investment managers, has demonstrated anability to think creatively and move quickly and we're fortunate topartner with this team. Although there is already a tremendous amountof capital focusing on traditional commercial financing opportunities,we will target the often-ignored niche market of short-term funding."

According to Rogers, "Prudential's latest venture into theshort-term funding of commercial projects illustrates today'sopportunity for the strategic placement of capital in this marketniche. The commitment of $50,000,000 of funds immediately availablethrough Black Mountain Capital will help a volume of businesses thatmay otherwise go unfunded."

Black Mountain was founded in 2005 by George Rogers and RobertNewell. Through the venture, Black Mountain is a direct lender ofshort-term commercial bridge loans. The company is headquartered inBurlingame, Calif., and will consider bridge loan opportunitiesthroughout the United States. Black Mountain focuses on all types ofshort-term commercial real estate finance opportunities includingoffice, retail, hotel, industrial and land development. Throughouttheir careers, the principals of Black Mountain have completed over $2billion of real estate debt and equity financings. For moreinformation, visit www.BlackMountainCapital.com.

PREI, comprised of fund management centers in Parsippany, N.J.;Atlanta, Ga.; Boston, Mass.; Munich; London and Singapore, issupported by a network of local offices throughout the world. Itsoperating units offer a broad range of investment opportunities andinvestment management services in the United States, Europe, Asia andLatin America. As of December 31, 2005, PREI had $20.2 billion in netassets under management. For more information, visit www.prei.com.

Prudential Financial companies, with approximately $532 billion intotal assets under management as of December 31, 2005, serveindividual and institutional customers worldwide and include ThePrudential Insurance Company of America, one of the largest lifeinsurance companies in the United States. These companies offer avariety of products and services, including life insurance, mutualfunds, annuities, pension and retirement related services andadministration, asset management, securities brokerage, banking andtrust services, real estate brokerage franchises and relocationservices. For more information, visit www.prudential.com.