NEW ORLEANS, March 12, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Kahn Gauthier Swick, LLC ("KGS") announces that shareholders of Centerline Holding Company ("Centerline" or the "Company") (NYSE:CHC) who purchased shares of the Company between December 5, 2006 and December 28, 2007, have only until March 18, 2008 to move for appointment as Lead Plaintiff in a securities class action lawsuit currently pending in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York. Prior to the filing of KGS' case, the earliest a shareholder could have purchased Centerline shares to be included in this class action was March 12, 2007. No class has yet been certified in this action.
UNLESS A CLASS IS CERTIFIED, YOU ARE NOT PERSONALLY REPRESENTED BY COUNSEL UNLESS YOU RETAIN AN ATTORNEY.
If you purchased shares of Centerline, you are urged to contact Lewis Kahn, Managing Partner, KGS, toll free 1-866-467-1400, ext. 100, via cell phone at 504-301-7900, or by email at lewis.kahn@kgscounsel.com to learn about your legal rights and how this action may benefit you. For further information on KGS, please visit www.kgscounsel.com. KGS focuses its practice on securities class action litigation, and has been appointed lead counsel in numerous federal securities class actions.
Centerline and certain of its officers and directors -- collectively, "Defendants" -- are charged with making a series of materially false and misleading statements related to the Company's business and operations in violation of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act").
On December 28, 2007, Centerline shocked shareholders when it issued a press release stating it had sold its "$2.8 billion tax-exempt affordable housing bond portfolio" to a third party and had transformed the Company's business model to a pure asset management firm. As a result, Centerline disclosed that it would be slashing its annual dividend from $1.68 per share to only $0.60 per share. Further, Centerline disclosed that Defendants had entered into agreement with a related party owned by certain of the Defendants called The Related Companies, L.P. ("TRCLP"), whereby TRCLP would provide the Company with $131 million in financing and would receive 12.2 million shares of newly-issued convertible preferred stock that would pay certain Company insiders an 11% dividend. On this news, Centerline stock fell from $10.27 per share on December 27, 2007, to close at $7.70 per share on December 28, 2007, representing a 25% single-day decline, on unusually heavy trading volume of 4,152,688 shares.
SPECIAL NOTICE: Courts will generally appoint only one law firm to prosecute a securities class action on behalf of the shareholders based upon the amount of losses its "lead plaintiffs" have suffered. Accordingly, while KGS urges you to sign up with the firm, KGS also encourages you to carefully evaluate any other firm you may consider to represent your interests in the Centerline class action, should you be considering another firm. Critical components of a law firm's ability to successfully prosecute this action and obtain a strong recovery for you include the resources it will dedicate to prosecution of the case, including the number of lawyers the firm has available for the Centerline action in particular, AND especially the quality of the firm's work. Interested shareholders are encouraged to call for consultation and to request more information about KGS.
More information on this and other class actions can be found on the Class Action Newsline at www.primenewswire.com/ca/