Fifth Street Finance Corp. announced that Dean Choksi will be joining the company in June 2012 as senior vice president of Finance and head of Investor Relations.

Choksi has over 11 years of experience in equity research, principally focused on the consumer and specialty finance sectors including BDCs and REITs. Most recently, he served as U.S. Equity research director at UBS. At UBS, Choksi developed quality research and comprehensive financial models for key players in the BDC space, including Fifth Street, which he covered since December 2010. Prior to that, he was responsible for following a number of financial services subsectors at Barclays Capital (formerly Lehman Brothers).

“Dean’s extensive equity research background will be a terrific asset as we continue to provide transparency and consistent communication to our shareholders,” noted Leonard Tannenbaum, Fifth Street’s CEO, adding, “His proficiency with financial modeling and in-depth knowledge of the current market trends impacting BDCs will play an important role in raising our profile in the investment community.”

Fifth Street Finance Corp. is a specialty finance company that lends to and invests in small and mid-sized companies, primarily in connection with investments by private equity sponsors. Fifth Street Finance Corp.’s investment objective is to maximize its portfolio’s total return by generating current income from its debt investments and capital appreciation from its equity investments.