Monday, January 7, 2008

ANNOUNCEMENT - Clarity Financial Strategy appoints John Sokic as Partner

TORONTO -- Clarity Financial Strategy (“CFS”) is pleased to announce that as a result of growing market interest in the ABCP restructure proposal that Mr. Crawford's Committee will be informing noteholders about later this month, John Sokic has joined CFS as a Partner in the firm’s ABCP Consulting arm.

With over seven years of structured finance experience at TD Securities and Coventree, John has forged an expert understanding of CDO transactions and other alternative asset classes. John has analyzed and structured deals worth over $8 billion, and is regarded in the industry as a leading analyst, deal-maker, negotiator and portfolio manager. John has directed analytical modeling, interfaced with banks and clients, and managed investment oversight functions in order to leverage investment opportunities.

In his current role with CFS, John will consult for clients affected by the ABCP situation. He will provide insight and assessment on the restructured notes.

John has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto. He also holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) Designation.

Increasingly, noteholders, dealers and potential purchasers are looking to better understand the products and the implications of the restructure currently underway. While many noteholders turn to the banks that sold them the paper for a better understanding of the product, many are seeing the value of turning to specialists who were directly involved in structuring the assets. Further to that, CFS is independent and free of conflicts of interest.

DARYL CHING, Managing Partner: "ABCP experts and savvy noteholders know that the Crawford Committee is keeping things very quiet before their upcoming road show. With John joining the team, we are now more ready than ever to help noteholders make sense of the proposal and decide what's in their best interests."

DARYL CHING: "The ABCP market is very savvy. They know the product and now demand a very specialised skill-set to help them make an informed decision on the proposal. CFS intends to provide a supplementary opinion to corporations to help support their decisions. Their Board of Directors and shareholders will be pleased that they sought a second opinion before making such an important decision. John's expertise will give our clients the edge they need to make the right, independent decisions ahead of the curve."

JOHN SOKIC, Partner: "The current state of the market is such where even people with above-average knowledge of the product are left shaking their heads. They are smart, but the lack of information and time they will have to analyse the new products before voting on them is raising concerns. I am looking forward to working with CFS’s clients and helping them to make sense of the products they have."

Clarity Financial Strategy Inc. is a Toronto-based consulting firm founded by Daryl Ching. CFS is focused on providing insight and recommendations on the ABCP situation, is particularly outspoken in defence of noteholders in the ABCP restructure, and has clients both from Canada and abroad. For further enquiries please contact CFS Managing Director DARYL CHING (416) 505 7467 ###

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