ARLINGTON, Va., March 31, 2010 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FBR Capital Markets Corporation (Nasdaq:FBCM) (FBR Capital Markets), a leading investment bank serving the middle market, announced today the expansion of the firm's New York-based Credit Sales & Trading and Leveraged Finance groups with the addition of notable industry veterans including:
- Chris Cunningham, Managing Director, Co-Head of Leveraged Finance, Investment Banking
- Frank Garibaldi, Managing Director, Co-Head of Leveraged Finance, Investment Banking
- Frank Ferrantelli, Managing Director, Head of High Yield Trading
- Ruta Brickus, Senior Vice President, Credit Sales
- Jerry Connor, Senior Vice President, Credit Sales
- Michael J. Morriss, Senior Vice President, Credit Sales
- Jane Pedreira, Senior Vice President, Credit Desk Analyst
- Wayne Wright, Senior Vice President, Credit Sales
The expansion of FBR Capital Markets' Credit Sales & Trading and Leveraged Finance groups represents the ongoing growth of, and investment in, the firm's Credit Sales & Trading platform and corresponding origination capabilities within Investment Banking.
"The expansion of our credit platform continues the strategic build-out of our corporate finance practice as we broaden our investment banking franchise in areas that support the needs of our clients," said Richard J. Hendrix, President and CEO of FBR Capital Markets.
Michael Lloyd, Senior Managing Director and Head of Credit, Convertibles & Options at FBR Capital Markets added, "The caliber of this growing team demonstrates the attractiveness of and inherent value in a broadly diversified capital markets platform. Over the coming years there will be an unprecedented refinancing of corporate liabilities in the marketplace. This team's expertise in debt origination, execution, idea generation and distribution will be key to accessing opportunities in the corporate credit market, providing capital solutions for our issuers and product for our institutional clients."
Mr. Cunningham, a 28-year veteran of the financial services industry, joins FBR Capital Markets from Credit Suisse where he was Managing Director in Loan Capital Markets. He spent the first 15 years of his career in various capital markets roles at Chase Manhattan Bank and Chase Securities. Mr. Cunningham holds a Bachelor of Science in economics from Skidmore College.
Mr. Garibaldi joins FBR Capital Markets from Credit Suisse where he spent 10 years and was most recently Managing Director in High Yield Capital Markets. Prior to Credit Suisse, he was an investment banker at both Salomon Brothers and Lehman Brothers. Mr. Garibaldi earned a Bachelor of Science in operations research from Columbia University.
Mr. Ferrantelli joins FBR Capital Markets from Oppenheimer & Co. where he was Head of High Yield Trading. Preceding its acquisition by Oppenheimer & Co. in 2007, he was employed by CIBC World Markets as Co-Head of Sales, Trading & Research for European High Yield and Distressed Debt, a platform he co-founded in 1999. Prior to CIBC World Markets, he launched and headed the European High Yield Research division of BT Alex. Brown. Mr. Ferrantelli received a Bachelor of Business Administration in finance from Baruch College of the City University of New York.
Ms. Brickus joins FBR Capital Markets having spent the majority of her career at Morgan Stanley where she was Executive Director within the firm's Fixed Income division. There she focused on leveraged loans and high yield bonds in Institutional Sales for more than 13 years. Ms. Brickus holds an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, and earned a Bachelor of Arts in international relations from Brown University.
Mr. Connor joins FBR Capital Markets with more than 25 years of experience in high yield and credit sales. He spent 12 years with Banc of America Securities where he headed the firm's High Yield Sales group for six years, and he earlier spent 10 years in High Yield Sales at Morgan Stanley. He has also worked for Lehman Brothers, Miller Tabak and Paine Webber. Mr. Connor is a graduate of Fairfield University and holds a J.D. from Seton Hall University School of Law.
Mr. Morriss, a 20-year Wall Street veteran, joins FBR Capital Markets having spent the majority of his career with Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. During his fixed-income career, he has been named High Yield "Salesperson of the Year" by Bond Week magazine. As an officer in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Morriss served overseas with the Sixth Fleet and as a division officer aboard the USS SUNFISH, the USS GROTON and the USS BELKNAP. He is a graduate of Williams College and the London School of Economics and holds a masters degree from Oxford University.
Ms. Pedreira joins FBR Capital Markets from Lehman Brothers where she was Senior Vice President and a high yield research analyst for over 11 years. She previously held positions in high yield research at Oppenheimer & Co. and Houlihan Lokey. Ms. Pedreira received a Bachelor of Arts in economics from the University of Arizona.
Mr. Wright joins FBR Capital Markets with 34 years of experience in high yield sales and fixed income trading. He was most recently a director in High Yield Sales at Scotia Capital and earlier in his career held positions at Barclays Capital, Prudential Securities, Dean Witter and Merrill Lynch.
FBR Capital Markets Corporation (Nasdaq:FBCM) provides investment banking, merger and acquisition advisory, institutional brokerage, prime brokerage and research services through its subsidiary FBR Capital Markets & Co. FBR Capital Markets focuses capital and financial expertise on seven industry sectors: consumer; diversified industrials; energy & natural resources; financial institutions; insurance; real estate; and technology, media & telecom. Asset management services are provided by FBR Investment Management, Inc., and mutual funds are provided by FBR Fund Advisers, Inc.; both companies are subsidiaries of FBR Capital Markets Corporation. FBR Capital Markets is headquartered in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area with offices throughout the United States and in London. For more information, please visit www.fbrcapitalmarkets.com.
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