Natsource Appoints Egbert Liese to Originate Greenhouse Gas Transactions in Eastern Europe and Create New Asset Management Products

NEW YORK, and LONDON, March 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Natsource LLC, a leading global provider of asset management, transaction and advisory and research services in emissions and renewable energy markets, announced the appointment of Egbert Liese as Managing Director. He will use his expertise to originate transactions of greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions created by projects in Eastern Europe and lead the development of new asset management products. Mr. Liese's appointment is effective March 15, 2007, and he will be based in London. He has been at the forefront of creating the GHG market through his participation in several of the market's initial transactions.

Mr. Liese's initial responsibilities will be the origination and structuring of transactions of emission reductions created by projects located in Eastern and Central Europe for the company's internal buyers of these assets, including the Greenhouse Credit Aggregation Pool (GG-CAP), the Managed Accounts and the Aeolus On-Shore and Off-Shore Funds.

"We see enormous potential in Eastern Europe as Joint Implementation (JI) begins to move forward. Egbert's appointment reflects our commitment to capture opportunities from that region that benefit our global client base," said Jack Cogen, Chief Executive Officer of Natsource LLC. "He will use his knowledge of the region to originate transactions and to develop new asset management products for the benefit of our compliance buyers and investors. His origination and fund management expertise will provide great value."

Mr. Liese said, "I am excited to be joining Natsource. They have been pioneers in the GHG market, and the time is right to play a leadership role in making the JI mechanism happen. There is a unique opportunity to deploy capital in the region and utilize carbon finance to upgrade the region's energy system."

Mr. Liese is a recognized expert in the GHG market, participating in some of the market's initial purchasing initiatives including the groundbreaking efforts led by the Government of the Netherlands. He has originated and structured transactions of GHG assets created by a wide variety of energy supply and efficiency projects located around the world. He has significant expertise and knowledge of the countries that will be at the forefront of creating credits from JI projects, including the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and the Baltic states.

Most recently, Mr. Liese was responsible for originating and structuring transactions at the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on behalf of the Netherlands Emissions Reduction Co-operation Fund. Prior to this, he held several leadership positions (including Deputy Manager) in the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, where he managed the Carboncredits.nl program. In this position, Mr. Liese played a lead role in designing and preparing the Dutch carbon credit procurement process. He also served as a Project Officer for Senter at the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs. In these positions, he also participated in transactions for GHG reductions created by projects from key countries located in Asia. These transactions helped to jump start the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).

He holds a Master of International Economic Relations with a focus on International Environmental Policy and Corporate Finance from the University of Amsterdam and completed his Bachelor degree at the Windesheim School of Economics in the Netherlands.

Natsource is an integrated company providing Asset Management Services, Transaction Services and Advisory and Research Services in local, national and global emissions and renewable energy markets. Natsource Asset Management (NAM) is one of the largest private sector GHG asset managers in the world. It manages GG-CAP, the Managed Accounts and the Aeolus On-Shore and Off-Shore Funds. GG-CAP closed with euro 510 million (approximately US$670 million) in capital committed by 26 participants. The capital is used to purchase and manage delivery of a large pool of Certified Emission Reductions (CERs) created by CDM projects and Emission Reduction Units (ERUs) created by JI projects that participants can use to comply with GHG emissions targets from 2005-2012.

Natsource also established a series of Managed Accounts in 2005 and the Aeolus On-Shore and Off-Shore Funds in 2006. The Managed Accounts and Aeolus are investment-oriented vehicles which take advantage of significant opportunities that exist in emissions and renewable energy markets. The Managed Accounts and Aeolus employ a variety of regulatory, financial and trading strategies to achieve superior returns for their investors.

The capital provided by the Managed Accounts and Aeolus can be used to support emissions and renewable energy projects early in the development process and assist developers to leverage additional sources of financing.

About Natsource

Natsource LLC is a leading emissions and renewable energy asset management firm. The company's Asset Management, Transaction Services and Advisory and Research Services business units utilize their regulatory, market and trading expertise to assist private firms around the world in the strategic management of environmental risk, and to provide superior returns to investors by taking advantage of opportunities in local, regional, and global emissions and renewable energy markets. Natsource is headquartered in New York and has offices in Calgary, La Paz, London, Ottawa, Panama City, Tokyo and Washington, D.C., providing the company with global reach and proximity to many of the world's leading financial centers. More information is available at http://www.natsource.com/.