Alpha Equity Mgmt. and The Praedium Group enter into joint venture

Alpha Equity Management, LLC, an investment management firm specializing in long/short equity strategies, and The Praedium Group LLC, a leading real estate company focusing on acquiring distressed real estate assets throughout North America, has entered into a joint venture. Together, the companies will manage and develop investment products focused on publicly-traded real estate securities. The joint venture draws on Alpha Equity's securities investment experience and established performance record and Praedium's experience as a seasoned real estate investor and fiduciary. Alpha Equity's investment process has been refined by their investment team for more than eight years and incorporates real estate fundamentals and stock characteristics to capitalize on inefficiencies in a variety of market conditions. Alpha Equity Management, an experienced long/short asset manager and a pioneer in 130/30 strategies, uses a fundamentally-based, quantitatively-applied investment methodology to manage assets in three public securities categories: U.S., international and real estate.  Alpha Equity's investment team consists of four of the senior portfolio managers originally at ING/Aeltus (formerly Aetna's asset management subsidiary), where they were responsible for managing approximately $22 billion in equity portfolios. The team, now at Alpha, first began working together in 1994, building and refining multifactor models to exploit market inefficiencies through the application of economic theory and statistical analysis. In 2007, RidgeWorth Capital Management, Inc., the $74 billion asset management subsidiary of SunTrust Banks, Inc., purchased a minority equity interest in Alpha Equity, which now sub-advises three RidgeWorth 130/30 Funds. Alpha Equity Management is a registered investment advisor with the SEC. The Praedium Group is a real estate investor focusing on under-performing and under-valued assets throughout North America, with over $7 billion in total investments to date in more than 275 transactions comprised of 45 million square feet of commercial space and 55,100 multifamily units. Praedium was formed in 1991 with a leading international investment bank as its sole investor. Building on the experience and exposure gained through this original investment program, Praedium has been a sponsor of commingled real estate private equity funds since 1994. The funds sponsored by Praedium have attracted investors that include public and corporate pension funds, financial institutions, insurance companies, endowments and foundations. Cadim, a Montreal-based real estate investor and portfolio manager, is a major shareholder of The Praedium Group. Cadim is a division of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec and a member of the Real Estate group of the Caisse, which is one of the world's 10 largest real estate managers among pension fund managers.