RAIT Securities, LLC Launches Commercial Real Estate Advisory Business

October 14, 2009 9:00 AM EDT

PHILADELPHIA & CHARLOTTE, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- RAIT Financial Trust ("RAIT") (NYSE: RAS) announced that it is expanding the operations of its registered broker-dealer, RAIT Securities, LLC, by hiring Tony Butler and Greg Laughton. Tony and Greg will work out of RAIT's new office in Charlotte, NC. With these additions, RAIT expands its commercial real estate advisory services to offer a range of services to financial institutions and other investors in commercial real estate loans and securities, including:

    --  Strategic advisory services
    --  Asset valuation, monitoring and reporting
    --  Asset acquisition and disposition
    --  Restructuring and repositioning of troubled assets
    --  Asset management
    --  Property management
    --  Loan servicing
    --  Research

RAIT Securities' advisory business will be led by Tony Butler and Sam Greenblatt. Tony Butler, CFA, joins RAIT Securities, LLC from Wachovia Capital Markets where he spent nearly 11 years in various commercial real estate related roles. He was a Managing Director in the Global Real Estate Strategies group and a Managing Director and Senior Analyst in the Structured Products Research group where he covered CMBS and commercial real estate CDOs. Mr. Butler has a B.S. and M.S. in statistics and an MBA from Brigham Young University.

Sam Greenblatt has been with RAIT Financial Trust since 2000, and currently serves as its Executive Vice President and Director of Originations and will also serve as Co-head of RAIT Securities' advisory business. Prior to joining RAIT, Mr. Greenblatt owned and was CEO of Pinnacle Capital Group, a commercial mortgage conduit structuring and selling loans in the secondary mortgage market. RAIT purchased Pinnacle in 2000 and subsequently promoted Mr. Greenblatt to Executive Vice President and Director of Originations in the fall of 2005. Mr. Greenblatt is a graduate of Temple University and received his MBA from Drexel University.

Greg Laughton joins RAIT Securities, LLC after almost 7 years with Wachovia Capital Markets, including the past year and a half as a Director in the Global Real Estate Strategies group within Wachovia's Real Estate Division. Prior to working in the Global Real Estate Strategies group, Mr. Laughton was a Director with the Structured Products Research group where he was in charge of global real estate research. Before joining Wachovia in 2002, Mr. Laughton served as a Senior Investment Advisor with Advantis Real Estate Services Company, a Senior Commercial Real Estate Appraiser at Integra Realty Resources and began his career as an analyst with CoStar Group. Mr. Laughton has a B.A. from Bucknell University.

For more information about RAIT Securities' Advisory Services please contact Tony Butler, tbutler@raitft.com, at 704-331-3920 or Sam Greenblatt, sgreenblatt@raitft.com, at 215-243-9000.

For more information about RAIT Securities, LLC, including employment opportunities, please contact Ken Kates, kkates@raitft.com, Mike Gaffney, mgaffney@raitft.com, or Ron Wechsler, rwechsler@raitft.com, at 212-735-1480.

About RAIT Financial Trust

RAIT Financial Trust manages a portfolio of real estate related assets, provides a comprehensive set of debt financing options to the real estate industry and invests in real estate related assets. RAIT's management uses their experience, knowledge and relationship network to seek to generate and manage real estate related investment opportunities for RAIT and for outside investors. Our objective is to provide our shareholders with total returns over time, while managing the risks associated with our investment strategy. For more information, please visit www.raitft.com or call Investor Relations at 215-243-9000. Securities and Advisory services are only offered through RAIT Securities, LLC a Registered Investment Advisor and Member of FINRA & SIPC.

    Source: RAIT Financial Trust

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