Capitas Group LLC hires Michael Van Leesten

Mr. Van Leesten will oversee the development of Capitas Group’s secondary market strategy and institutional investment platform to complement the launch of the company’s ZayanSM Finance brand in late 2006. He brings two decades of investment banking and capital markets experience to Capitas Group. In prior appointments he served as a Vice President at Goldman, Sachs & Co. in their Fixed Income Division and later, as the Chief Financial Officer for Travelers Property Casualty Corp. - Construction Division.

Wahid Sarij, Chief of Strategic Development of Capitas Group commented, “Michael’s background as a Chief Financial Officer within a global financial institution and his extensive expertise with a variety of complex financial instruments make him ideally suited to guide Capitas Group’s capital markets activities.”

Naveed Siddiqui, Chief Executive Officer of Capitas Group added, “We are very pleased Michael has joined the Capitas team. His presence enhances our capabilities in the secondary markets as he shapes our strategies to build robust investment vehicles for our institutional clients.”

Company Profile

Capitas Group LLC is a privately held, New York based firm which specializes in providing Islamic Finance products to the American Muslim community. The company will launch its ZayanSM Finance brand of Shari’ah compliant commercial financing solutions in late 2006. Capitas Group will be sponsoring the upcoming Islamic Funds World 2006 conference in Dubai to be held from September 3-6. The company also has offices in Chicago and Princeton.

CONTACT:

Wahid Sarij, Chief of Strategic Development
300 Park Avenue, 17th Floor
New York, NY 10022
516-417-5005 tel
877-858-6953 fax
wahid@capitasgroup.com

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