BTIG Expands High Yield And Convertibles Group – New Hires Bolster Fixed Income Sales and Trading Team

New York – August 22, 2011- BTIG LLC, a global financial services firm specializing in institutional trading and related brokerage services, continues to expand its New York-based Fixed Income Group with the recent hires of William Freihofner, Jeffrey Gould, Kevin McDonald, Mayank Patel, and William Tillinghast.

“These hires demonstrate our continued and targeted build-out of BTIG’s Fixed Income and Convertible divisions,” said Robert Langer, Head of BTIG’s High Yield and Distressed Desk. “We are focused on building our team with professionals who have deep product knowledge and experience.”

William Freihofner joins BTIG as a Director of Convertible Trading. Freihofner has 12 years of experience, most recently as a Senior Trader/Vice President for BCP Securities, a sell-side emerging markets firm based in Greenwich, CT. Prior to BCP Securities, Freihofner was a senior convertible trader for McMahan Securities and has worked in the Convertibles groups of JP Morgan Chase and Chase H&Q. William received a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University.

Jeffrey A. Gould joins BTIG as a Director of High Yield Sales. Gould has more than 10 years of fixed income sales and investment banking experience. Gould has previously held positions in the investment banking divisions of Bear Stearns and Credit Suisse, and in the Leveraged Finance and Fixed Income Sales groups at Barclays Capital. He most recently worked in fixed income sales at The PrinceRidge Group LLC. Jeffrey received his BSBA from Bucknell University in 2001.

Kevin McDonald joins BTIG as a Vice President of High Yield Sales. Most recently, McDonald worked for Fieldstone Capital. McDonald began his career in 1997 at Spear, Leeds and Kellogg in the Fixed Income division, where he worked in both investment grade and high yield sales and trading. In 2004, he joined the High Yield and Distressed department of Morgan Joseph & Co., and worked in the Leveraged Finance department of Cohen & Co. from 2009 to 2010. Kevin graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Economics.

Mayank Patel joins BTIG as a Managing Director of Convertible Sales. Patel has had an extensive career, starting as an analyst with GE Capital’s Financial Management Training Program, and worked in several GE business units, including Kidder Peabody, GE Investments and GE Real Estate. After working as a convertibles securities trader for Paloma Partners and Deephaven Capital Management, Patel launched his own hedge fund, Cobra Management, in 2001. He later formed Jenum Capital, an advisory and investment firm for India-focused investors. In 2008, Patel joined Collins Stewart to co-head its Asia Capital Markets efforts, and he most recently managed convertible bond trading at Rafferty Holdings. Mayank received his MBA from New York University.

William Tillinghast joins BTIG as a Managing Director of High Yield Sales. Tillinghast will focus on high yield and distressed sales. He most recently worked in high yield sales for Collins Stewart and Pali Capital. Tillinghast began his career as a salesman in CIBC Oppenheimer’s Global High Yield Distressed Group. He then moved to the distressed hedge fund Schultze Asset Management. After leaving Schultze, he was a senior high yield salesman for DebtTraders and worked in SMH Capital’s Investment Banking Group. William received his MBA from Columbia Business School.

“We continue to see opportunity for BTIG in high yield, distressed and convertibles, and we are aggressively looking to add talented professionals in those areas,” said Steven Starker, Co-Founder of BTIG. “Each of these hires brings expertise and experience to our team as we broaden both our high yield and convertible trading and distribution capabilities.”

BTIG’s Fixed Income Group offers clients access to a full spectrum of credit securities, from investment grade to distressed credits.

About BTIG

BTIG LLC is a premier institutional brokerage and fund services company. BTIG continues to build its global franchise around a broad and experienced group of professionals who are leaders and experts in their respective fields. Founded in 2002, BTIG, including through its affiliates, employs nearly 400 professionals in five different countries. BTIG serves customers from all over the world and offers services in 11 areas: Equity Trading, Fixed Income, Futures Trading, Convertible Securities, Equity Derivatives, Prime Brokerage, Outsource Trading, Direct Market Access, Capital Markets, Equity Research and Corporate Access. BTIG has nine domestic offices: New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Greenwich, Red Bank and Orinda. The firm also has four overseas affiliates: London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.

BTIG LLC is a member of FINRA and SIPC

BTIG Australia Limited ACN 128 554 601 is a member of ASIC and ASX

BTIG Hong Kong Limited, Exchange Participant of SEHK, licensed and regulated by the SFC

BTIG Ltd is a member of the LSE and is authorized and regulated by the FSA

BTIG Singapore Pte. Ltd is registered and licensed with MAS

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