Brian Patrick Barry

ARS Investment Partners LLC (ARS) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Arnold Schmeidler in 1971 as A.R. Schmeidler & Co., Inc. They are majority-owned by Artemis US Corp., ultimately held by Artemis Corp. ARS provides discretionary and non-discretionary investment advisory services to separately managed accounts (SMAs) and pooled investment vehicles.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Banc of America Securities (BAS) is the investment banking subsidiary of Bank of America Corp (NYSE: BAC). The firm provides both the domestic and international equity and investment banking markets, and pursues a strategy pioneered by Citigroup that combines corporate lending with investment banking advice and services. They provide high-yield debt underwriting and leveraged finance, in addition to industry coverage groups such as healthcare, media and telecom, financial institutions, real estate and gaming. BAS also does a significant amount of work for Financial Sponsors, or private equity firms, often financing leveraged transactions. Following the strategy of Goldman Sachs, the firm lacks a standalone mergers and acquisitions department, instead employing mergers and acquisitions senior bankers throughout the industry coverage groups. The firm is registered as a broker/dealer with the SEC, is a member of the NYSE, and the NASD. The use of Banc in the BAS's name is indicative of the fact that the company is not a bank, and their deposits and other holdings are not insured by the FDIC.

Bank of America, NA (Private Banking) (Bank of America-PB) is the private banking arm of Bank of America, NA, which is a subsidiary of Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). Headquartered in New York City, the firm was founded in 1947 and is also known as US Trust, Bank of America Private Wealth Management. Bank of America-PB serves the needs of high net-worth and ultra-high net-worth individuals and families by providing comprehensive wealth management products and services that focuses on wealth structuring (wealth planning, trusts and estates, philanthropy, custody services), investment management (portfolio consulting, asset management, capital markets, specialty asset management) and credit and banking (financial management tools, liquidity services, custom credit, real estate finance).