Winfield Capital Corp. Announces Investment in J.L. French Automotive Castings, Inc.

    WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--Jan. 14, 2003--Winfield Capital Corp. announced today the closing of a debt investment in J.L. French Automotive Castings, Inc. ("J.L. French" or the "Company") based in Sheboygan, Wisconsin.
    The financing involved the purchase of a 19% senior subordinated secured note (the "Senior Note"), of which 12% is payable in cash and 7% interest is capitalized over the term of the Senior Note, in the principal amount of approximately $5.4 million and a warrant to purchase 227,869 shares of common stock (the "Senior Note Warrant") at an exercise price of $.01 per share. The number of shares purchasable under the Senior Note Warrant and the exercise price are subject to adjustment for certain dilutive events.
    J.L. French Automotive Castings, Inc. is a leading global designer and manufacturer of highly engineered aluminum die cast automotive parts including oil pans, engine front covers and transmission cases. The Company has manufacturing facilities in Sheboygan, WI; Grandville, and Benton Harbor, MI; Glasgow, KY; San Andres de Echevarria, Spain; Saltillo, Mexico; as well as five plants in the United Kingdom. The Company is based in Sheboygan, WI., and has its corporate office in Minneapolis, MN. For more information about J.L. French, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.jlfrench.com/.
    Winfield Capital is a small business investment company that makes loans and equity investments pursuant to funding programs sponsored by the SBA and is a non-diversified, closed-end investment company that is a business development company under the Investment Company Act of 1940. Winfield Capital's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ SmallCap Market under the symbol "WCAP". For more information, visit Winfield Capital's Web site at: http://www.winfieldcapital.com/.

    This press release may contain forward-looking statements. For this purpose, any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Without limiting the foregoing, words such as "may," "will," "could," "would," "should," "expect," "believe," "anticipate," "estimate," or "continue" or comparable terminology are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These statements by their nature involve substantial risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially depending on a variety of factors. Winfield Capital assumes no obligation to update the information contained in this release.