Fitch Affirms Newcastle Investment's 'CAM1' CDO Asset Manager Rating.

NEW YORK -- Fitch Ratings affirms the 'CAM1' Commercial Real Estate CDO Asset Manager rating of Newcastle Investment Corp. This 'CAM1' rating is based on the company's stable performance track record, its rigorous underwriting and monitoring processes and the experience and depth of senior management.

Newcastle's 'CAM1' rating is based on Newcastle's composite score of '1.50'. This score takes into account qualitative adjustments made by the rating committee in addition to a weighting of the scores assigned to each of the categories described below:

--Company and Management Experience '1.50';

--Staffing '1.50';

--Procedures and Controls '1.50';

--Portfolio Management '1.50';

--CDO Administration '1.50';

--Technology '1.75';

--CDO Portfolio Performance '1.75'.

Newcastle's composite score of '1.50' is used to establish a systematically applied quantitative link between its asset manager rating and Fitch's CDO rating criteria, in accordance with the approach outlined in Fitch Research on 'Reviewing and Rating CDO Asset Managers,' dated Jan. 27, 2006, available on the Fitch Ratings' website at www.fitchratings.com. A company profile and an expanded report detailing the seven factors which contributed to the Newcastle rating will be available on Fitch's public website www.fitchratings.com.

Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE: NCT), a publicly traded real estate investment trust (REIT), was formed in June 2002 to invest in and manage diversified portfolios of real estate securities and other real estate related assets. Newcastle is sponsored and externally managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC. Fortress is a global alternative investment and asset management firm founded in 1998 with over $24 billion in equity capital under management, as of September 2006. Newcastle's relationship with Fortress enables Newcastle to take advantage of the existing business relationships, operational and risk management systems, expertise, and economies of scale associated with Fortress' investment management operations. Newcastle is currently the manager of eight CDOs comprising approximately $4.1 billion in assets.

Fitch rates CDO asset managers by asset class, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being the highest rating. These ratings are based on a standardized scorecard methodology that includes factors in each of the seven groups noted above.

Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.