Obed M. Cepeda

Green Coast Capital LLC is an investment advisor located in New York City.

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.

JPMorgan Securities LLC (JPMS) is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded in 1985 and is a subsidiary of JPMorgan Broker-Dealer Holdings, Inc., ultimately held by JPMorgan Chase & Co., Inc. (NYSE: JPM). JPMS provides research on fixed income, credit, derivatives, emerging markets, foreign exchange, structured finance, technical analysis and bond indices. Their equity analysts cover equities throughout North America, EMEA, Asia/Pacific and the emerging markets. The firm's fixed income team formulates trading and portfolio recommendations for investors in global bonds and other fixed-income markets based on valuations, analytics and market dynamics.

Transkaryotic Therapies, Inc. (TKT) was a biopharmaceutical company with a major focus on developing products for the treatment of rare diseases. The company is used to markets one product, Replagal™, for the treatment of Fabry disease in the European Union and other countries, and was developing products for Hunter syndrome and Gaucher disease. The company was located in Cambridge, MA.

Broadpoint.Gleacher Securities, formerly Broadpoint Capital, Inc. is an independent, institutional investment banking, sales and trading boutique headquartered in New York City. They were also previously known as First Albany Capital, Inc. The firm is a subsidiary of Broadpoint Securities Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: BPSG), formerly known as First Albany Cos., Inc. They have additional offices in Boston, Chicago, Denver, San Francisco, Bonita Springs, Florida, Glen Allen, Virginia, Roseland, New Jersey and St. Louis, Missouri. Broadpoint.Gleacher follows a range of fixed-income securities and provides proprietary views and analysis on credit fundamentals and trading dynamics. They focus on investment grade, high yield and convertible securities in the following sectors: consumer, building materials, financials, gaming / leisure, healthcare, homebuilding, industrials, mining, packaging, paper/forest products, power/energy, technology/media/telecommunications and transportation.

Sphera Funds Management Ltd. (US) (Sphera US) is the New York-based hedge fund management division of Sphera Funds Management Ltd., which is owned by S.R Accord Ltd. (TLV: SRAC), a company headquartered in Israel. Sphera US manages distinct long/short equity strategies. The firm has a diverse investor base that includes pensions, insurance companies, financial institutions and family offices.