Cohen & Company's Emporia Capital Management Expands Leveraged Loan Business With Hiring of New Team

    NEW YORK and LOS ANGELES, June 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Cohen & Company, a
 global alternative fixed-income asset management firm with approximately
 $40 billion in assets under management, today announced that its specialty
 asset management and lending subsidiary, Emporia Capital Management, has
 named Wade T. Winter, Jonathan S. David, and Richard J. Barger, as
 Executive Vice Presidents in its leveraged loan asset management business,
 effective immediately.
     Reporting directly to Kevin Braddish, Managing Director and Emporia's
 Chief Investment Officer, the three new senior executives will be based out
 of Emporia's Los Angeles offices. Among their responsibilities, they will
 spearhead the expansion of Emporia's product offering in the leveraged loan
 market with an emphasis on larger and more liquid loans. They are joining a
 team that provides both sponsored loan origination and middle market
 finance offerings.
     Prior to joining Emporia, Messrs. Winter, David and Barger, who
 collectively possess 41 years of industry experience, served as Senior Vice
 Presidents for the broadly syndicated loans business of Jefferies Capital
 Management. Messrs. Winter and Barger first joined Jefferies Capital
 Management in 2003, while Mr. David joined the organization in 2004.
 Together, the three executives helped lead a team that had approximately
 $3.5 billion in assets under management, and had issued four CDOs totaling
 $1.1 billion as of September 30, 2006.
     Emporia Capital Management presently has in excess of $1 billion in
 leveraged loans under management and continues to expand its product
 offering in the interest of serving its expanding base of leveraged loan
 customers.
     Kevin Braddish, Emporia's Managing Director and Chief Investment
 Officer, said, "We are very pleased to welcome Wade, Jonathan and Richard
 to the Emporia team. They are among the most talented and experienced
 individuals in the field today, and their addition to our business rounds
 out our product offering and provides us with further resources for
 continued growth and development of our asset management business. Going
 forward, we have strong momentum on our side in the asset management and
 loan origination business, and we are now further positioned as the lender
 of choice for entities seeking creative and flexible solutions from a
 lending partner."
     Prior to joining Jefferies, Wade T. Winter was a Senior Vice President
 and Senior Portfolio Manager at Four Corners Capital Management, where he
 was responsible for analyzing investment opportunities in the Gaming,
 Lodging, Real Estate, Food, Beverage and Tobacco, and
 Entertainment/Leisure-Sports industries. He holds a B.A. from Franklin &
 Marshall College and an M.B.A. from the University of Southern California.
 He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
     Before joining Jefferies, Jonathan S. David was a corporate banking
 officer at both Far East National Bank and City National Bank, where he was
 responsible for negotiating and structuring loans for middle market
 companies. He holds a B.A. from the University of Southern California's
 Marshall School of Business Finance.
     Previous to his joining Jefferies, Richard J. Barger served as a Senior
 Vice President and Senior Portfolio Manager at Four Corners Capital
 Management, where he was responsible for the aerospace, chemical, metal and
 mining, oil and gas and utility industries. He holds a B.A. from Texas A&M
 University, and a J.D. and M.B.A. from the University of Southern
 California. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst.
     About Cohen & Company
     Cohen & Company is a global alternative fixed-income asset management
 firm with approximately $40 billion in assets under management in
 collateralized debt obligations and other funds and investments across
 multiple asset classes. With offices in Philadelphia, New York, Chicago,
 Los Angeles, Stamford, Paris, London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Singapore, Cohen
 & Company employs approximately 150 employees worldwide, and serves a
 diverse international network of institutional and individual clients. For
 more information about Cohen & Company, we encourage you to visit
 www.cohenandcompany.com.
     About Emporia Capital Management
     Emporia is a specialty asset management and lending subsidiary of Cohen
 & Company that provides flexible debt solutions tailored primarily to
 sponsored middle market buy-outs and recapitalizations. Emporia's
 relationship-based entrepreneurial culture allows it to structure creative
 debt products that specifically address each borrower's individual business
 model. With close to $2 billion dedicated to the space, Emporia seeks to be
 the key lending partner to middle market businesses with at least $5
 million of cash flow across a wide array of industries. More information
 about Emporia is available at www.cohenandcompany.com.
     Business Inquiries                    Media Inquiries
     Kevin Braddish                        Joseph Kuo
     Managing Director                     Kekst and Company
     646-673-8009                          212-521-4800
     kbraddish@cohenandcompany.com
 
 

SOURCE Cohen & Company