John D. Leonard

BlackRock Investment Management (UK) Ltd. (BIM-UK) is an investment management firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm is a subsidiary of BlackRock Finance Europe Ltd., ultimately owned by BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK) in the US. BIM-UK was founded in 2006 following the merger of Merrill Lynch Investment Managers and BlackRock. In 2009, BlackRock merged with Barclays Global Investors, including the iShares exchange traded funds business. The combined firm operates under the BlackRock name and has retained the iShares brand. BIM-UK manages a family of mutual funds and acts as sub-advisor to other mutual and pension funds. They also offer alternative investments and managed accounts for individual and institutional clients.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. (MLPFS) is the SEC-registered broker/dealer subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., ultimately held by Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). The firm was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in New York City. In 2010, Banc of America Securities LLC merged with MLPFS and the firm uses the trade name Bank of America Merrill Lynch. MLPFS's global strategy and economics team serves institutional and individual investors using a wide range of macroeconomic disciplines. Their analysis of global issues provides clients with investment ideas, market forecasts, macro overviews and specific sector recommendations across asset classes, regions and disciplines. Their equity research team conducts fundamental analysis on companies globally and provides institutional and retail clients with industry-specific and in-depth research and analysis on numerous industries. The firm's global fixed-income and equity-linked research focuses on fixed-income and equity derivatives, fixed-income strategy, convertibles, commodities, high-yield, mortgages, municipals and global foreign exchange.