Third Avenue Management Hires Two Senior Credit Professionals to Enhance Investment...

Third Avenue Management Hires Two Senior Credit Professionals to Enhance
Investment Team, Announces New Fund

NEW YORK, June 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Third Avenue Management LLC, an investment
adviser to private and institutional clients, announced today that Jeffrey
Gary and Thomas Lapointe have joined the firm's investment team, enhancing
Third Avenue's expertise in high-yield, credit and distressed investing.

Mr. Gary has been named a portfolio manager and will be responsible for
portfolio construction, as well as for identifying credit opportunities. Mr.
Gary has more than 20 years of experience managing high-yield, long/short
credit and distressed investment portfolios. Most recently, Mr. Gary had been
at BlackRock Financial since 2003, as the Lead Portfolio Manager and head of
the high- yield/distressed investment team, which managed approximately $17
billion. Previously, he was a senior high-yield and distressed portfolio
manager at AIG/American General and Koch Industries. Earlier in his career,
Mr. Gary was a distressed analyst at Cargill Financial; Vice President of
Corporate Finance responsible for restructuring and workouts at Mesirow
Financial; and a senior analyst at Citigroup. He began his career as an
auditor at PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Mr. Lapointe joins Mr. Gary as a senior research analyst and will focus on
identifying opportunities in high-yield investments. Mr. Lapointe has over 17
years of investment experience and was previously responsible for managing
approximately $6 billion in high-yield assets, as Co-Head of High-Yield
Investments for Columbia Management. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lapointe was
a convertible bond credit analyst at CIBC World Markets and a high-yield
analyst at AIG Global Investment Corp. He began his career as a financial
analyst at Caldor Department Stores.

Mr. Gary and Mr. Lapointe join Third Avenue Management's team of 25 investment
professionals - which includes a dedicated credit investment team - lead by
Martin J. Whitman and Curtis Jensen. Commenting on the new hires, David Barse,
Chief Executive Officer of Third Avenue Management, stated, "Jeff and Tom both
have impressive long-term track records managing high-yield, credit and
distressed investments. Their experience complements and broadens Third
Avenue's expertise in distressed investing and will further expand the value
investing strategies we offer our clients."

Mr. Gary added, "I have long admired Third Avenue's investment philosophy and
track record. Both Tom and I share Third Avenue's emphasis on credit
selection and focus on total return. Third Avenue has an exceptional
investment team and I am thrilled to be joining a group of such consummate
professionals." Mr. Lapointe remarked, "I have personally been an investor in
the Third Avenue Funds for over a decade and professionally have followed and
learned a great deal from many of their distressed investments.

Mr. Barse stated that, with the additions of Mr. Gary and Mr. Lapointe, Third
Avenue Management intends to offer new products focusing on the credit area
for both institutional and retail investors.

"We are in the process of forming a new mutual fund, the Third Avenue Focused
Credit Fund, which we hope to launch in August or September," Mr. Barse said.
"This new fund will focus on performing credit opportunities and high-yield
investments. We believe that market conditions are perfect for such a
product, and that Jeff and Tom will complement the rest of the Third Avenue
team." The new mutual fund is not yet being offered and will be available by
prospectus only; additional information will be available shortly."

Mr. Barse also noted that Third Avenue's credit-focused investment strategy
will soon be made available to qualified institutional investors, in the form
of separate accounts.

About Third Avenue Management

Third Avenue Management LLC is a New York-based investment advisory firm that
offers its services to private and institutional clients. Third Avenue adheres
to a disciplined bottom-up value investment strategy, to identify investment
opportunities in undervalued securities of companies with high quality assets,
understandable businesses and strong management teams that have the potential
to create value over the long term. Third Avenue Management has approximately
$13 billion in assets under management and offers value-oriented strategies
through mutual funds, UCITS, separate accounts and alternative investment
vehicles.

SOURCE Third Avenue Management LLC

Bridget Smith, Third Avenue Management LLC, +1-212-906-1164