Sovereign Investment Company acquires 28 Joe's Crab Shack Restaurants

PRINCETON, N.J., June 7, 2007

Sovereign Investment Company, one of the largest and fastest growing private equity investors providing sale-leaseback capital, announced that it has entered into a sale-leaseback transaction for the real estate underlying 28 Joe's Crab Shack restaurants worth $78 million. Joe's Crab Shack is a 120-unit, nationally recognized, casual dining restaurant chain serving a variety of seafood and non-seafood dishes.

"We were very pleased to work on this significant sale-leaseback and are excited to add the well-known Joe's Crab Shack concept to our investment portfolio," said Craig Vachris, vice president of underwriting at Sovereign Investment Company. "The properties, which are located in 11 states, are all successful operating restaurants with excellent real estate intrinsics."

About Sovereign Investment Company

Sovereign Investment Company empowers owners, operators and developers to capitalize on the value of their real estate through net lease sale-leaseback portfolio transactions. Leveraging the experience of a 30-year investment history, Sovereign invests capital to offer a variety of terms and structures, while providing unparalleled service, pricing and execution for its transaction partners. As one of the largest and fastest-growing private equity investment firms focused on real estate structured finance, Sovereign has provided more than $1 billion in sale-leaseback capital to long-term, net-leased properties nationwide.