BMO Capital Markets Continues to Strengthen its U.S. Investment & Corporate Banking Business with the Hiring of Five Managing Directors

    -  New senior bankers have nearly 70 years of combined investment banking
       experience
    -  New additions in BMO Capital Markets' Financial Sponsors, Healthcare,
       Industrials and M&A Groups
    -  BMO Capital Markets has hired 90 senior professionals since 2009

NEW YORK and CHICAGO, April 28 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ - BMO Capital Markets, the investment and corporate banking arm of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), has hired five senior professionals in key areas of its U.S. business including its M&A product team as well as its Financial Sponsors, Healthcare and Industrials coverage groups.

Ben Adams, Mike Jones, Christopher Marlowe, Greg Melconian and Brett Skolnik join BMO Capital Markets as Managing Directors. Together, the new hires represent close to 70 years of combined investment and corporate banking experience.

"We welcome this very talented group of M&A and coverage bankers to BMO Capital Markets," said Perry Hoffmeister, the newly appointed Head of U.S. Investment & Corporate Banking, BMO Capital Markets. "Their industry and investment banking experience will continue to expand our client reach and fee based business."

"These latest additions to our team are part of the 90 senior professionals who have joined BMO Capital Markets since 2009. All of these partners bring tremendous experience, enthusiasm and industry-leading expertise to sectors where we continue to build competitive, differentiated positions and reinforce our exceptional focus and commitment to our clients," added Mr. Hoffmeister.

About the latest hires in BMO Capital Markets' investment and corporate banking group:

Ben Adams joins as a Managing Director in the Healthcare Group based in New York where he will focus on the Healthcare Services sector. Prior to joining BMO Capital Markets, Mr. Adams spent more than 15 years as a member of the healthcare groups at Barclays Capital, Bear Stearns and Credit Suisse First Boston / Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette where he executed numerous public and private debt and equity financings, as well as strategic and merchant banking transactions in Healthcare Services. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and an undergraduate degree from Tufts University.

Mike Jones joins the M&A Group in Chicago where he will focus on the Food & Consumer sector, an industry that BMO Capital Markets has served for nearly 75 years. Mr. Jones brings more than 13 years of M&A transaction experience at Wachovia Securities, where he was most recently Head of Consumer and Retail M&A. He has an MBA from Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina and a BA from Washington & Lee University.

Christopher Marlowe joins the Financial Sponsors Coverage Group in San Francisco. Mr. Marlowe has more than a decade of M&A and private equity experience and has completed about $30 billion in private equity-backed transactions. He joins BMO from Silverfern Group, a privately held merchant bank. Until last year, Mr. Marlowe spent 10 years with Wachovia, where he was a Managing Director and ran the firm's west coast financial sponsors practice. Mr. Marlowe has an MBA from Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina and a BA from Hampden-Sydney College.

Greg Melconian joins the Industrials coverage team based in New York. Mr. Melconian brings 15 years of investment banking experience to his new role. He has closed more than 60 transactions with an aggregate value of $70 billion, including $30 billion in M&A transactions and $40 billion in financings. Mr. Melconian joins BMO from Barclays Capital where he was a senior banker and original member of the Financial Sponsors Group in New York. Prior to that, he was at Lehman Brothers where he served as Head of the Automotive and Building Products Sectors within the Industrials Group. Mr. Melconian has an MBA from the University of Chicago, Graduate School of Business, and a BA from Tufts University.

Brett Skolnik joins the M&A Group and will focus on the Healthcare sector. Based in New York, Mr. Skolnik has 15 years of investment banking experience and was most recently CFO of Lux Biosciences, a privately-held biotechnology firm. Prior to that, he was a Managing Director handling M&A and financing transactions in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Piper Jaffray. Previously, he was with the healthcare investment banking team at SG Cowen. Mr. Skolnik has an MBA from Columbia University Business School and an undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Lehigh University.

About BMO Capital Markets

BMO Capital Markets is a leading, full-service North American financial services provider, with more than 2,200 employees operating in 15 North American offices and 28 worldwide, offering corporate, institutional and government clients access to a complete range of investment and corporate banking products and services. BMO Capital Markets is a member of BMO Financial Group (NYSE, TSX: BMO), one of the largest diversified financial services providers in North America with US$373 billion total assets and more than 36,000 employees as at January 31, 2010. For more information, visit www.bmocm.com

SOURCE BMO Capital Markets