Lisa Thomas

Nomura Securities International, Inc. (NSI) is a registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City and was founded in 1969. The firm is a division of Nomura Holding America, Inc. and their ultimate parent is Nomura Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: NMR, TYO: 8604, AMS: 8604). NSI provides securities brokerage services, as well as asset management, domestic retail, global markets, global investment banking and global merchant banking services. The firm's fixed-income business consists of bond sales and trading, origination and product supply for securitization deals and real estate-focused asset finance operations (in cooperation with Investment Banking). In the equity markets, NSI offers sales and trading of domestic and foreign stocks on a global basis, primarily for institutional investors.

Founded in 1958, Merrill Lynch Piece Fenner & Smith, Inc. is an SEC registered broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of BAC North America Holding Co. and their ultimate parent is Bank of America Corp. (NYSE BAC).

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.

Cowen, Inc. engages in the provision of financial services. It operates through following the segments: Operating Company and Asset Company. The Operating Company segment consists of the Cowen Investment Management, Investment Banking, Markets, and Research divisions. The Asset Company segment consists of the firm’s private investments, private real estate investments, and other legacy investment strategies. The firm offers investment banking services, equity and credit research, sales and trading, prime brokerage, global clearing, commission management services, and actively managed alternative investment products. The company was founded in 1918 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Cowen & Co. LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 2004 and is a subsidiary of Cowen Holdings, Inc., ultimately owned by The Toronto-Dominion Bank (TSE: TD) in Canada. Cowen & Co. offers industry-focused investment banking for growth-oriented companies, domain knowledge-driven research and a sales and trading platform for institutional investors. Their institutional sales and trading business serves both equity and fixed-income clients. Sales and trading execution platform is structured around the following key verticals: (1) healthcare (2) technology, telecommunications and media (TMT) (3) REITs and financials (4) aerospace and defense (5) consumer and (6) alternative energy.

Shearman & Sterling LLP provides legal services. It specializes in appellate litigations, capital markets, corporate governance, environmental, finance, international arbitration, investment funds, litigation, mergers and acquisitions, privatization, real estate, and tax. The company was founded by Thomas Shearman in 1873 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Covington & Burling LLP provides legal services. It also provides support services in the following administrative departments including accounting, human resources, information research services, information technology services, library, operations, marketing, practice systems support, recruitment, attorney and alumni relations, and professional development. The company was founded by J. Harry Covington and Edward B. Burling on January 1, 1919 and is headquartered in Washington, DC.

Kekst & Co. provides public relations services. It focuses on corporate communications and investor relations as well as provides strategic advisory services related to merger and acquisition, bankruptcies and restructurings, crisis communications, litigation support, media relations and corporate governance. The company was founded by Gershon Kekst and Lawrence A. Rand in 1970 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Founded in 2004, TD Securities (USA) LLC is a broker/dealer located in New York City with additional offices in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Vancouver, London, Singapore, Tokyo and Sydney. The firm is a subsidiary of Toronto Dominion Holdings (USA), Inc. and their ultimate parent is Toronto-Dominion Bank (NYSE: TD). TD Securities (USA) provides a wide range of capital market products and services to corporate, government and institutional clients in five areas of finance including: investment banking, debt capital markets, institutional equities, foreign exchange and money markets. Their services include the underwriting and distribution of new debt and equity issues, providing advice on strategic acquisitions and divestitures and executing daily trading and investment needs. The equity group provides research coverage of media and communications, technology, financial services, oil and gas, mining and metals, industrial products, forest products, technology, utilities and power, real estate, biotechnology, consumer products and merchandising and quantitative analysis strategy. The fixed-income group provides a full range of underwriting sales and trading products for Canadian, U.S. and European debt issuers and investors.