Ward Bortz

Angel Oak Capital Advisors LLC (Angel Oak) is a SEC-registered investment advisor headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm was founded in 2009 by Michael Fierman, Sreeniwas Prabhu and Brad Friedlander. They are directly owned by Angel Oak Asset Management Holdings LLC, which is owned by Angel Oak Companies LP. Angel Oak provides investment advisory services to mutual funds and private funds as well as separate managed accounts. The firm is a signatory to the United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI).

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.