Chris Allen

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.

Founded in 1995, Pali Capital, Inc. is a full-service broker/dealer located in New York City with an additional office in Greenbrae, California. The firm is a subsidiary of Pali Holdings, Inc. Pali Capital leverages their core brokerage business for a predominantly specialty hedge fund client base to create an integrated blend of product lines including equity trading, options trading, hedge fund hosting, independent research and research analysts and investment banking. Their research covers US equities, European equities, European mergers and acquisitions and event-driven capital structure arbitrage and Asian equities.

UBS Securities LLC is an investment bank and registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1998 as UBS Warburg LLC. They are a subsidiary of UBS Americas Holding LLC, ultimately held by UBS Group AG (SWX: UBSG, NYSE: UBS) in Switzerland. UBS Securities is a primary dealer in US Government securities and provides a full range of investment banking services which includes corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital markets, trading and sales, fixed-income, equity research, private banking, underwriting and prime brokerage operations. The firm also provides advisory services and access to capital markets for corporate, institutional, intermediary and alternative asset management clients.

Founded by Donald Putnam and Jefffrey Lovell in 1987, Putnam Lovell NBF Securities is a broker/dealer headquartered in New York City with an additional office in Boston. The firm is a subsidiary of Jefferies & Co., Inc. and their ultimate parent is Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF). Putnam Lovell NBF Securities provides a full array of trading and execution services for their clients. Their clients include U.S. and foreign financial institutions, mutual fund companies, private investment firms, broker/dealers, insurance companies, e-Finance companies and banks.

Founded in 1979 as Reynders Gray & Co., Inc., Ticonderoga Securities LLC is an SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of GEROVA Financial Group Ltd. (NYSE: GFC), a specialty reinsurance company based in St. George, Cayman Islands. In May 2009, Ticonderoga Securities acquired Reynders, Gray & Co., Inc. and in May 2011, they acquired Soleil Securities Corp. Ticonderoga Securities focuses on domestic and international equities and with emphasis on high quality, order execution, as well as a differentiated research offering to support their execution capabilities. The firm's analysis focuses primarily on the following sectors: basic materials, capital goods/industrials, consumer, energy, financials, healthcare, strategy/policy, technology, transportation and utilities. The firm clears their equity business through National Financial Services Corp., a wholly-owned, guaranteed subsidiary of the Fidelity organization and their fixed-income business through Pershing LLC, a BNY Mellon company.

Evercore Group LLC is a SEC-registered broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1995 and is a subsidiary of Evercore BD Investco LLC, which is owned by Evercore, Inc. (NYSE: EVR). Evercore Group delivers equity research and equity sales and agency trading execution, in addition to providing wealth and investment management services to high net worth and institutional investors.

Founded in 1982, Buckingham Research Group, Inc. is an institutional brokerage firm located in New York City. The firm provides services to portfolio managers and research analysts for mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, foundations and other institutional investors. The employ fundamental, bottom-up research with a focus on U.S. small- to mid-cap emerging growth companies in the retail, consumer non-durables, finance and technology sectors

Founded by Richard J. Rosenblatt in 1979, Rosenblatt Securities, Inc. is a broker/dealer headquartered in New York City. The firm provides a full array of trading and execution services for their clients. They do not provide any internal research

Founded in 1991 by Ed Hyman and Nancy Lazar, International Strategy & Investment Group LLC is a broker/dealer located in New York City. The firm is a subsidiary of Evercore Partners, Inc. (NYSE: EVR). They are also known as ISI Group. The firm specializes in research on the following areas: economics, policy, technical analysis, tech strategy, portfolio strategy, quantitative research, integrated oil, accounting and tax policy research, China, machinery, banks, REITs, company surveys and client projects.