Jaguar announces acquisition of additional equity interest in Lakeside

TORONTO, March 1 /CNW/ - Jaguar Financial Corporation ("Jaguar") (TSX: JFC) announced its acquisition on February 26, 2010, of an aggregate of 8,133,742 units of Lakeside Steel Inc. ("Lakeside"; TSX-V: LS), each unit comprised of one common share and one half of one common share purchase warrant. Concurrently with this acquisition, Jaguar disposed of 7,763,242 common shares and 3,153,871 warrants of Lakeside in pre-arranged trades over the facilities of the TSX Venture Exchange pursuant to a previously announced Lakeside private placement and related gypsy swap. The net effect of the transactions is that Jaguar's ownership of common shares of Lakeside increased by 370,500 or 0.5% and Jaguar acquired 913,000 Lakeside warrants. The Lakeside units were acquired on a private placement basis at price of $0.27 per unit. Combined with the Lakeside common shares previously owned, Jaguar now owns a total of 17,436,090 common shares, representing approximately 25.4% of the total issued common shares of Lakeside.

On February 26, 2010, Mr. Alboini, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of both Lakeside and Jaguar acquired 555,556 Lakeside common shares and 277,778 Lakeside warrants. Mr. Alboini owns or has control or direction over an aggregate of 6,883,302 Lakeside common shares or approximately 10% of the issued and outstanding Lakeside common shares. Together Mr. Alboini and Jaguar own or have control or direction over an aggregate of 24,319,392 Lakeside shares representing approximately 35.4% of the total issued shares of Lakeside.

7,763,242 common shares and 3,153,871 warrants of Lakeside were acquired by Jaguar under the private placement to offset the common shares Jaguar transferred to investors pursuant to the previously announced Lakeside private placement and related gypsy swap. 370,500 units of Lakeside were acquired by Jaguar for investment purposes. Mr. Alboini acquired the Lakeside common shares and warrants for investment purposes. Depending on market and other conditions, Jaguar or Mr. Alboini may, directly or indirectly, acquire beneficial ownership of, or control or direction over, additional common shares of Lakeside, through market transactions, private agreements or otherwise, in accordance with applicable securities legislation. Depending on market and other conditions, each of Jaguar or Mr. Alboini may sell any or all of their respective common shares of Lakeside.

About Jaguar Financial Corporation

Jaguar is a Canadian merchant bank that invests in undervalued small and mid-cap companies in a variety of industry sectors.

The Toronto Stock Exchange does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain certain forward looking statements which involve known and unknown risks, delays, and uncertainties not under Jaguar's control which may cause actual results, performances or achievements of Jaguar to be materially different from those implied by such forward looking statements.

For further information: Vic Alboini, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, [phone]; - or - Kyler Wells, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary, [phone]