Dominion News Releases

October 6, 2000

Dominion To Sell $948 Million Loan Portfolio To GE Capital Commercial Finance

RICHMOND, Va. -- Dominion (NYSE:D) announced today that it has agreed to sell to GE Capital Commercial Finance $948 million in commercial loans held by First Source Financial, a unit of its Dominion Capital subsidiary. The transaction is expected to settle in a series of closings beginning in mid-October and to be completed in the fourth quarter.

Chicago-based First Source Financial originated the loan portfolio after being acquired by Dominion Capital in 1995. The portfolio includes loans made to middle-market companies for expansion, acquisitions and recapitalization, and represents about half of First Source Financial’s total loan portfolio.

Thos. E. Capps, Dominion’s chairman, president and chief executive officer, said: "This transaction will enable Dominion to enhance the company’s debt structure and significantly de-leverage its balance sheet. It also advances our long-term strategy to divest non-core assets and focus our resources on energy markets in the Midwest, Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States."

Through the ongoing divestiture of its Dominion Capital financial services businesses and other asset divestitures, Dominion expects to raise a total of more than $1.5 billion in cash.

Robert O’Reilly, a managing director of GE Capital Commercial Finance, said: "This pool of loans is a good fit with our existing middle-market equity sponsor-focused lending business. We will continue to look for asset acquisition opportunities that can broaden our portfolio."

Dominion, headquartered in Richmond, Va., is the nation’s largest fully integrated electric power and natural gas company. Dominion has a power generation portfolio of more than 19,000 megawatts, which is expected to grow to more than 28,000 megawatts by 2005. Dominion is also one of the largest independent oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in North America, with 2.8 trillion cubic feet of equivalent reserves. The company has 7,600 miles of inter-state natural gas pipeline with more than 650 billion cubic feet of annual natural gas throughput. Dominion also serves 3.8 million retail natural gas and electric customers. (www.dom.com)

GE Capital Commercial Finance, a GE Capital company, is a global provider of working capital, acquisition financing, and accounts receivable risk management and related back office services to middle-market companies. GE Capital, with assets of more than US$345 billion, is a global, diversified financial services company with 28 specialized businesses. A wholly-owned subsidiary of General Electric Company, GE Capital, based in Stamford, Conn., provides equipment management, mid-market and specialized financing, specialty insurance and a variety of consumer services, such as car leasing, home mortgages and credit cards, to businesses and individuals around the world. GE is a diversified manufacturing, technology and services company with operations worldwide. (www.gecommercialfinance.com)

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