About Ramirez

Samuel A. Ramirez & Co., Inc. (“Ramirez”) is a full service securities firm serving the investment needs of individuals, business owners, institutional investors and government agencies. Founded in 1971, Ramirez offers professional services focusing on Wealth Management, Underwriting, Banking, Institutional Brokerage, and Asset Management. Ramirez provides retail and institutional trading expertise in Tax-Free Municipal Bonds, Equities, Government Bonds, Corporate Bonds and Alternative Investments.

The Firm has nine main divisions:

Private Client Group, Municipal Bond Department, Institutional Equity Group, Transition Management Group, Taxable Fixed Income Group, Equity Capital Markets Group, Debt Capital Markets Group, Mergers & Acquisitions/Strategic Business Advisory Group & Ramirez Asset Management.

The Private Client Group performs Portfolio Management, Retirement Planning, Financial and Estate Planning for individuals, business owners, corporations and institutions. The group offers an array of investment disciplines including equity and fixed income, diversification strategies, insurance and alternative investments.

Group Highlights

• Presently Manages in excess of $2B in customer accounts.
• Over 4,000 privately managed accounts.
• Clients include many second and third generations of family wealth management .

The Municipal Bond Department provides Banking, Underwriting, Sales, Trading and Distribution services to states, local governments and their agencies throughout the United States.

Group Highlights

• Ranked 13th nationally (full credit to each manager) as a managing underwriter, in 2007.
• $150 million average weekly secondary market activity.
• Sales and Trading teams averaging 17 years industry experience.

 The Equity Capital Markets Group offers underwriting services to corporations, public retirement programs, and some of the largest professional money managers across the nation.

Group Highlights

Ramirez & Co. participated in initial public and follow-on offerings totaling over $100 billion dollars since 1999, including 8 of the 10 largest IPOs in U.S. history (e.g., Kraft Foods Inc.).

• Ramirez & Co. participated in 13 equity offerings (total size $16 billion) during 2006.
• Underwrote transactions initiated by financial sponsors such as KKR and Providence Equity.
• Co-managed approximately $13 billion in convertible securities since 2002.

The Debt Capital Markets Group offers underwriting of Fixed Income Securities including Corporate bonds, Convertible bonds, Asset Backed Securities, Preferred Stock as well as US Agency notes for a unique investor base.

Group Highlights

Ramirez & Co. participated in new issue corporate debt transactions totaling over $200 billion dollars since 2002. Co-Managed 33 corporate bond offerings totaling approximately $37 billion during 2006;

• Joint Lead Book-Running Manager in the largest minority-owned firm led transaction in U.S. history: the issuance of $800 million in 5-year notes by Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
• Underwrote preferred stock offerings totaling $8 billion in 2005 and $38 billion since 2002.
• Selling group member for Federal Home Loan Bank, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.

The Mergers and Acquisitions/Strategic Business Advisory Group offers professional services focusing on Private Capital Raising, Strategic Business Planning and Mergers and Acquisitions advisory to leading companies in the U.S. and abroad.

Group Highlights

• An experienced team focused on serving small and mid-size companies.

The Institutional Equity Group offers an experienced team of Equity Sales & Trading professionals, performance enhancing products and services, value added investment ideas and cost effective and “Agency Only”/non-conflicting trade execution for institutions, corporations and government agencies in both the U.S. and International markets.

Group Highlights

• Equity execution in listed and OTC stock in both the U.S. and International Markets.
• Sophisticated & unique algorithm trading through our Ramirez Trading Solutions Division.
• International Direct Market Access (DMA) through our Tradeware Global network.
• Experienced sales & trading team to handle care orders on a manual basis.
• Soft Dollar and Commission Recapture programs for our clients to obtain independent, third-party investment products and services.
• Share Repurchase team for our Corporate accounts.
• Trading desk averaging 15 years industry experience.
• Account base of over 200 institutional clients.

The Transition Management Group (Ram Trans) combines customized algorithmic trading strategies and personalized service. This dedicated team core competency is managing portfolio transitions and the technology needed to achieve maximum performance, helping our clients manage the unique costs and risks associated with transitions.

Group Highlights

• Sophisticated and Proprietary Pre-trade strategy reports.
• Best Execution through our “agency only” desk and advanced technology platform.
• Advanced trade monitoring technology.
• Detailed Post-Trade Analytics- measures costs, performance quality and execution efficiency.
• Our team has over twenty years of industry experience and has successfully managed over 1000 transitions.

The Taxable Fixed Income Sales and Trading Group offers our institutional and high-net-worth retail client base access to new issues as well as secondary trading in corporate bonds, U.S. agency securities, $25-preferreds, asset-backed securities and convertible bonds.

Group Highlights

• Client-focused professionals with extensive industry knowledge and an average of over 16 years experience in the industry.
• Our account base consists of over 200 institutional clients encompassing large institutions, middle-market investors and public pension systems.
• A co-manager or underwriter in transactions generated by the firm’s Debt Capital Markets Group allows investors to gain access to the primary market.
• An approved member of the selling group for Fannie Mae, Federal Home Loan Bank and Freddie Mac

Ramirez Asset Management offers managed accounts for individuals and institutions for both fixed-income and equities, as well as, balanced account.

Group Highlights

• Over 30 years of portfolio management experience.
• Ability to structure customized managed accounts for qualified investors.

Our main office is located in New York with branch offices in Chicago, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Miami, San Antonio, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.