FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
March 24, 2008

Contact
Tom McHale, Senior Vice President, Finance (301) 951-6122
Justin Cressall, Vice President, Equity Capital Markets (301) 951-6122
Amanda Cuthbertson, Director, Investor Relations (301) 951-6122

AMERICAN CAPITAL ANNOUNCES PUBLIC OFFERING OF COMMON STOCK

Bethesda, MD – March 24, 2008 - American Capital Strategies Ltd. (“American Capital” or the “Company”) (Nasdaq: ACAS) announced today it plans to make a public offering of approximately 8.7 million shares of its common stock, subject to market conditions, all of which are being offered directly by American Capital.  The Company has granted the underwriters an option to purchase up to an additional 1,305,000 shares to cover over-allotments.

Citigroup Global Markets Inc., Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated and Morgan Stanley and Co. Incorporated are the joint-lead book-running managers for the offering.  Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. and UBS Investment Bank are the co-managers for the offering.

The offering will be made under American Capital's existing shelf registration statement filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.  American Capital expects to use substantially all of the net proceeds from the sale of its shares to reduce the borrowings under American Capital’s existing revolving credit facilities and to fund investments. Reducing borrowings under the revolving credit facilities will create availability under these facilities, which will generally be used for funding future American Capital investments and general corporate purposes.

This press release is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation of an offer to buy shares of common stock. The offering of these securities will be made only by means of a prospectus and a related prospectus supplement. When available, copies of the prospectus and prospectus supplement may be obtained from Citi Markets and Banking, 140 58th Street, 8th Floor, Brooklyn, New York 11220, (telephone number: 718-765-6732), Merrill Lynch & Co., 4 World Financial Center, New York, New York 10080 or Morgan Stanley, 180 Varick Street 2/F, New York, New York 10014 (telephone number: 1-866-718-1649 and email: prospectus@morganstanley.com).

ABOUT AMERICAN CAPITAL

American Capital is the only alternative asset management company that is a member of the S&P 500. With $19 billion in capital resources under management, American Capital is the largest U.S. publicly traded private equity fund and one of the largest publicly traded alternative asset managers. American Capital, both directly and through its global asset management business, is an investor in management and employee buyouts, private equity buyouts, and early stage and mature private and public companies. American Capital provides senior debt, mezzanine debt and equity to fund growth, acquisitions, recapitalizations and securitizations. American Capital and its affiliates invest from $5 million to $800 million per company in North America and €5 million to €500 million per company in Europe. 

This press release contains forward-looking statements. The statements regarding expected results of American Capital are subject to various factors and uncertainties, including the uncertainties associated with the timing of transaction closings, changes in interest rates, availability of transactions, changes in regional, national or international economic conditions, or changes in the conditions of the industries in which American Capital has made investments.