MEMPHIS, Tenn., Oct. 1, 2013 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gary K. Wunderlich, Jr., CEO of Wunderlich Securities announced the addition of five Equity Capital Market Professionals. Joining Wunderlich Securities' equity research department are David Askew, Michael Bates, Craig Kucera, and Abhishek Sinha. Brian Ludwig joins the Institutional Sales Group in Boston. "We continue to build our Equity Research Department and Equity Capital Markets division, and are extremely pleased to have attracted these seasoned professionals to our platform," said Gary Wunderlich. Wunderlich Securities has experienced extraordinary growth over the past few years, particularly in Equity Capital Markets (ECM). With these hires, the ECM division has 18 senior research analysts covering companies in six industry verticals – including energy, financial services, diversified industrials, technology, healthcare and consumer. The ECM Division has grown to 17 senior salespersons, 9 traders/sales traders, and 20 senior investment bankers. "We believe these new equity research and institutional sales professionals will be great additions to our ECM business," added Jay Dobson, Director of Wunderlich Securities' Equity Capital Markets Division.
David Askew joins Wunderlich Securities in the Firm's Houston, Texas office as a Senior Vice President and Equity Research Analyst. He will provide coverage of the energy midstream master limited partnership (MLP) sector. David has over 7 years of sell-side equity research experience primarily on the energy platform of RBC Capital Markets LLC with a focus on midstream and marine MLPs. David also covered alternative energy at RBC Capital Markets LLC and was a generalist equity analyst at Austin Stock Research, a boutique research firm, before joining RBC. David received a B.B.A in Finance with a minor in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin.
Michael Bates will provide research coverage of the Utility and Power Industry. He joins Wunderlich Securities from D.A. Davidson and Co. where he provided sell-side equity research coverage of regulated electric and gas utilities. He is a graduate of the University of Utah, Eccles School of Business. Michael will be located in our New York City office and joins as a Senior Vice President of Wunderlich Securities.
Craig Kucera joins Wunderlich Securities to provide coverage of the Equity Real Estate Investment Trust space. He has nearly 10 years of analyst experience in this sector at firms including BB &T Capital Markets and FBR. He has been named to "Best on the Street" research team by the Wall Street Journal and recognized by StarMine for the accuracy of his earnings estimates and stock performance. He earned an MBA from The University of Iowa. Craig will be located in our Leesburg, Virginia office and joins as a Senior Vice President of Wunderlich Securities.
Brian Ludwig joins Wunderlich Securities as a Vice President of Institutional Sales in our Boston Office. Prior to Wunderlich Securities, Mr. Ludwig worked with Craig-Hallum Capital Group for three years and FBR for four years, both in the Institutional Equity Sales division. Mr. Ludwig has a B.S. in Finance from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut.
Abhishek Sinha comes to Wunderlich Securities from Bank of America/Merrill Lynch where he covered US Oil and Gas Exploration and Production companies and Upstream MLPs since 2010. He will provide coverage of the Upstream and Midstream MLP industry for Wunderlich Securities as a Senior Vice President in our Houston, Texas office. Abhishek's industry experience includes previous employment with ConEdison and Baker Hughes, Inc. both in the natural gas and oilfield services areas. He received his MBA from Columbia Business School and is a graduate of Texas Tech University and the R.V. College of Engineering.
About Wunderlich Securities, Inc. -- Established in 1996, Wunderlich Securities is a full-service brokerage firm based in Memphis, Tennessee. Wunderlich Securities caters to individual, corporate, nonprofit and institutional clients with financial advisory, brokerage, equity research and investment banking services. The Firm operates in 28 offices across 16 states and has over 450 associated professionals. For more information about the organization, please visit our website at www.wunderlichsecurities.com.