Rufus H. Rivers Named Managing Director of RLJ Equity Partners, LLC, a Robert L. Johnson Venture

BETHESDA, Md., Jan. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- RLJ Companies, LLC ("RLJ") controlled by Robert L. Johnson, founder and chairman, announced today that Rufus H. Rivers has joined the organization to serve as Managing Director of RLJ Equity Partners, LLC ("RLJ Equity"), a private equity firm formed in association with The Carlyle Group, a private equity firm with more than $46 billion under management.

A seasoned investor of junior capital, Rivers will be responsible for the overall strategic direction of RLJ Equity, including fundraising, deal sourcing, and portfolio management. RLJ Equity makes expansion and buy-out investments in middle-market companies, with a focus on the media, consumer products, and professional services sectors. RLJ Equity differentiates itself in the market based on substantial proprietary deal flow, a team with deep transactional and operational expertise, and a proven entrepreneur, Robert L. Johnson, as a founder.

"Rufus brings a wealth of knowledge to RLJ and he will be a tremendous asset to RLJ Equity Partners as we move forward in expanding our investments and our asset management capabilities," said Johnson. "We are fortunate to have Rufus on our management team."

Rivers joins RLJ Equity Partners from The Carlyle Group where he was a Managing Director and Co-head of Carlyle Mezzanine Partners, a $436 million fund focused on private debt and equity investments in middle-market companies.

"Rufus joining RLJ Equity allows our firms to further solidify our growing relationship," said David M. Rubenstein, co-founder of Carlyle. "We expect his addition to the team to open up even more investment opportunities for Bob and the rest of his team."

"I am very excited to join Bob Johnson and the RLJ Equity team. I thank my colleagues at The Carlyle Group for their support of this new endeavor and I look forward to working with them in the future to generate great returns for our investors," said Mr. Rivers.

About The RLJ Companies

The RLJ Companies ("RLJ"), founded by Robert L. Johnson, founder of Black Entertainment Television, owns a diverse portfolio of companies in the financial services, real estate, hospitality/restaurant, professional sports, film production, gaming and recording industries. The RLJ Companies' core businesses include: RLJ Development, a privately held hotel real estate investment company and RLJ Urban Lodging Funds I and II, private equity real estate funds, which together have over $1 billion in combined assets; RLJ Asset Management Group, which includes RLJ Select Investments, LLC, a hedge fund of funds joint venture with Deutsche Bank AG, and RLJ Equity Partners, LLC, a private equity fund formed in association with The Carlyle Group; Urban Trust Holdings, which holds Urban Trust Bank, a retail bank with branches in Washington DC, and Orlando Florida, and Urban Trust Education Finance, a student loan company formed in partnership with Goldman Sachs; the NBA Charlotte Bobcats and Charlotte Arena Operations; Caribbean Gaming and Entertainment (C.A.G.E.), a video lottery terminal company headquartered in Puerto Rico; Rollover Systems, Inc., a retirement services company, and Three Keys Music, a jazz recording company. http://www.rljcompanies.com/

About The Carlyle Group

The Carlyle Group is a global private equity firm with $46.9 billion under management. Carlyle invests in buyouts, venture & growth capital, real estate and leveraged finance in Asia, Europe and North America, focusing on aerospace & defense, automotive & transportation, consumer & retail, energy & power, healthcare, industrial, technology & business services and telecommunications & media. Since 1987, the firm has invested $24 billion of equity in 576 transactions for a total purchase price of $101.8 billion. The Carlyle Group employs more than 740 people in 16 countries. In the aggregate, Carlyle portfolio companies have more than $68 billion in revenue and employ more than 200,000 people around the world. http://www.carlyle.com/