Will Focus On Sales, Trading, Other Areas

An aviation finance group has been launched by R.W. Pressprich & Co., a fixed income and equity broker-dealer headquartered in New York. The announcement Tuesday coincides with the hiring of Steve Welo, CFA, as Managing Director.

Mr. Welo joins Pressprich after a 13-year career at Piper Jaffray, where he focused on aviation finance in both Institutional Sales and Investment Banking. Throughout his career, Mr. Welo has developed in-depth relationships with investors, aviation lessors, airlines, manufacturers, and lenders. Mr. Welo joins the Pressprich offices in Minneapolis where the Pressprich Aviation Finance team will be headquartered.

The Pressprich Aviation team will focus on sales, trading, and analytics of Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates (EETC), Aircraft ABS (Asset Backed Security), and private transactions, as well as providing advisory services to a variety of clients, including airlines, leasing companies, asset managers, and aviation investors. The team will support a growing volume of business for Pressprich; 2008 and 2009 were record years for the firm, as institutional investors turned to R.W. Pressprich for trading relationships and sources of liquidity.

Mr. Welo will be joining Clay Smith, Jeff Golbus and Vincent Lim as members of the R.W. Pressprich Aviation Finance Group.

Clay Smith, CFA, Managing Director, joined Pressprich in 2009 as a Senior Analyst with responsibilities in special situation bank loans and aviation research. Prior, Mr. Smith spent 13 years in senior research roles at AIG, American Express, and most recently, at Deephaven Capital Management. As an institutional investor, Mr. Smith managed a large portfolio of Aircraft ABS securities as well as being actively involved in several corporate restructurings. Mr. Smith was also involved in the re-packaging of structured aircraft transactions. Mr. Smith holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Irvine, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Southern California, and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Jeff Golbus, named CFA and Managing Director and Head of Aviation Finance Trading, spent the majority of his career as an institutional investor. As a Portfolio Manager at Deephaven Capital Management, Mr. Golbus was a large EETC/ETC investor and was actively involved in the United Airlines and Northwest Airlines bankruptcies. Previously, he actively handled workout situations at Nationwide Insurance from 2001 to 2005, and served as Vice President of AIG/SunAmerica in private placements from 1998 to 2001. Mr. Golbus received his B.A. from Michigan State University and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and joined Pressprich in 2009.

Vincent Lim, CFA, Associate Director, joined R.W. Pressprich this year, as a research analyst in the firm's Aviation Finance Group. Prior to joining Pressprich, Mr. Lim was an analyst with Deephaven Capital Management, where he was a member of the distressed credit team. Mr. Lim has also previously worked as an analyst with Triage Capital Management, and began his career as an investment banking analyst specializing in telecommunications companies at Salomon Smith Barney. Mr. Lim received a B.S. in Systems Engineering and Economics from the University of Virginia.

"We are pleased to welcome such a distinguished group of professionals to R.W. Pressprich and expand our services into Aviation Finance to help create value for our clients," said Joe Calvo, President and COO of R.W. Pressprich & Co.

FMI: www.pressprich.com