Nicklaus Investments Teams With Guggenheim Partners to Finance High-Quality Residential, Resort Communities

    CHICAGO, July 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Guggenheim Partners, a global diversified
 financial services firm, and Nicklaus Investments, the real-estate investment
 arm of the business owned by legendary golfer Jack Nicklaus and his family,
 today announced the formation of a new business called Guggenheim Nicklaus
 Partners LLC ("GNP").
     GNP's primary purpose will be to finance and invest in high-quality
 residential real estate and golf resort communities around the world,
 featuring Nicklaus Design courses as the centerpiece of each development.
 Nicklaus Investments, along with Jack Nicklaus and his team of industry
 professionals at Nicklaus Design, will apply decades of experience in the golf
 industry to GNP. In turn, Guggenheim will bring a wealth of experience in
 finance and real estate development, with more than $100 billion of assets
 under supervision.
     Jack Nicklaus, who this week concludes his record-setting major
 championship career with his final appearance in the British Open, said, "I
 have been very active in the design business for almost as many years I have
 played professional golf. I am proud of the global design business we have
 created and the other ways in which we continue to impact the business of
 golf. We at Nicklaus Design are enjoying the most successful years in the
 history of our firm, and our partnership with GNP will allow us to continue to
 grow the business in other areas. For the last four decades, we have worked
 with the world's best real estate developers to create some of the finest
 courses around the globe. With the introduction of GNP, we can extend our
 services beyond design, and offer full-service support from financing to the
 finished product. GNP will complement and enhance what we are currently doing
 at Nicklaus Design."
     "We are greatly excited about this opportunity and our new venture with
 Nicklaus Investments," said Todd Morley, Managing Partner of Guggenheim. "Jack
 Nicklaus is one of the greatest athletes ever to have played a professional
 sport; but, more importantly, he and his family represent excellence and
 integrity which are essential to any successful enterprise."  "The opportunity
 to partner with this fine family is a principle reason for our great
 enthusiasm in forming GNP," said Andrew Rosenfield, Managing Partner of
 Guggenheim who added, "GNP allows us to leverage our collective skills,
 knowledge and experience in finance, branding and real estate development with
 the Nicklaus family. We believe that the collective talents of Guggenheim and
 Nicklaus allow GNP efficiently to provide capital to developers of residential
 and resort communities."
     The marriage of high-end real estate and Nicklaus Design golf courses has
 been among the most successful in the world. Real estate on Nicklaus courses
 outperforms similar property developed by competitors, and maintains a quality
 and distinction unique in the world of residential and resort properties.
 Nicklaus Designs is the world's leading golf course design firm, with more
 than 50 courses under construction, and 280 courses currently open for play in
 28 countries around the world.
     "There are great synergies that exist between Nicklaus Design and GNP,"
 said Gary Nicklaus, President of Nicklaus Investments. "Nicklaus Design is
 involved from the onset with the best developers and therefore is positioned
 uniquely to understand and evaluate the developer's financial needs. We are
 confident that GNP will provide an extremely valuable turnkey service for
 developers that does not exist elsewhere."
     The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) will serve as the primary source of
 debt capital for GNP, enhancing the strength of the Guggenheim-Nicklaus
 partnership.  RBS is the world's sixth largest bank and second largest in
 Europe. Jack Nicklaus has been a spokesperson for RBS for three years, and as
 he heads into his final British Open, RBS-an official sponsor of the Open
 Championship-will unveil a 5-pound note with his image on it. Nicklaus becomes
 the first living person outside of Her Majesty the Queen and the late Queen
 Mother to appear on a Scottish note.
     "RBS and my father have enjoyed a strong relationship and RBS has proven
 that they recognize the worldwide appeal of the Nicklaus name and the equity
 in the brand," Gary Nicklaus added. "As they have learned more about the
 impact Nicklaus Design has on the real estate market, RBS has co-financed
 several of the projects we have in development, and they will continue to be a
 vital part of what GNP sets out to accomplish."
 
     About Guggenheim Partners
     Guggenheim Partners is a diversified financial services firm with offices
 in Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Geneva, Hong Kong and London.  It has over
 $100 billion of assets under supervision and runs numerous investment funds
 including aircraft funds, debt and mortgage backed asset funds, hedge funds,
 private equity funds and a variety of real estate funds.  Guggenheim is also a
 large wealth management firm and traces its heritage to the innovative
 Guggenheim family that was a prime mover in the development of business in the
 United States in the late 1800s and thereafter as well as an important pioneer
 in philanthropy creating the Guggenheim Museum and Foundation.
 
     About Nicklaus Investments
     Nicklaus Investments and Nicklaus Design are two of the principal business
 activities of golf legend Jack Nicklaus and his family.  No name is more
 synonymous with greatness in the sport of golf than the name Jack Nicklaus,
 and no single person has changed the face of the sport more than Jack Nicklaus
 - the player, the designer, and the good-will ambassador. With well over 100
 professional victories worldwide, and a record 18 professional major
 championship crowns, Jack has been named "Golfer of the Century" or "Golfer
 of the Millennium" by almost every major golf publication in the world. He
 was also named Individual Male Athlete of the Century by Sports Illustrated,
 and one of the 10 Greatest Athletes of the Century by ESPN. The legacy Jack
 has left as a player can be rivaled only by the legacy he is leaving as a
 golf-course designer. Jack was named GolfWorld's Architect of the Year in
 1993, and in 1999, Golf Digest named him the world's leading active designer.
 He has received almost every honor bestowed by the golf industry for his
 contributions to the game through his golf course design work.
 
     About The Royal Bank of Scotland Group ("RBS Group")
     RBS Group is one of the world's leading financial services companies
 providing a range of retail and corporate banking, financial markets, consumer
 finance, insurance, wealth management and other finance-related activities.
 RBS Group had a market capitalization of $102 billion at December 14th, 2004
 and now ranks as the sixth largest bank in the world.  For 2003, RBS Group
 posted total revenue of $31.4 billion and operating profit before tax,
 goodwill amortization and integration costs of $11.7 billion. RBS Group serves
 more than 35 million customers world-wide and employs over 137,000 people,
 including nearly 30,000 in the US. In the US, RBS Group owns Citizens
 Financial Group (retail bank, credit card and merchant acquiring businesses)
 and its North America Corporate Banking and Financial Markets business is a
 leading provider of financing solutions to corporate and institutional
 clients. RBS Greenwich Capital tailors debt capital market solutions to
 institutions world-wide and has a leading position in US treasuries and asset
 backed securities.
 
     http://www.guggenheimnicklaus.com
 
     [Please note that Jack Nicklaus is unavailable for comment during the week
 as he is competing in The Open Championship at St. Andrews]
 
 

SOURCE  Guggenheim Partners