BB&T Capital Markets hires education finance professionals to head dedicated team

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Aug. 8, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BB&T Capital Markets today announced three prominent additions to its education finance team, investment banking professionals Rich Harmon, Paula Permenter and Michael Braun. The team is based in Charlotte, N.C., and has offices in Houston, TX and Richmond, Va.

"We are pleased to welcome these esteemed and seasoned education finance professionals to our staff," said Steve Coma, managing director of municipal markets. "These senior bankers add significant breadth and depth to our dedicated education finance team, and their hiring is evidence of our commitment to this growing sector."

Harmon, who is based in Charlotte, will head the education finance team. Harmon has more than 30 years of experience in investment and commercial banking. He has provided tax-exempt and taxable bond financing and financial advisory services to more than 100 organizations nationally and has completed more than $1 billion in financing and development transactions for not-for-profit and for-profit providers. Harmon earned his bachelor's degree in mathematics and economics at Denison University and a J.D. degree from Capital University Law School.

Paula Permenter, who is based in Houston, comes to BB&T Capital Markets with more than 20 years of institutional buy-side experience, which includes trading of tax-exempt securities, portfolio management and the credit evaluation of charter school bond transactions. She was an active member of the National Federation of Municipal Analysts and served on the board of the Southern Municipal Finance Society. She has a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Houston and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas.

Michael Braun, who is based in Charlotte, has 13 years of investment banking experience, including extensive expertise developing education-related credits and executing both institutionally based and public-private initiated financings. He also has served as day-to-day banker for charter schools, colleges and universities, private and parochial K-12 schools and an array of not-for-profit entities. His experience has involved numerous economic, legal and credit structures including fixed rate debt, variable rate debt, direct bank placements, letters of credit, interest rate swaps and the bond rating process. He has served as lead banker on more than $500 million of debt issuance for charter schools. He received a bachelor's degree in finance from The Ohio State University.

The education finance team provides comprehensive capital structure planning and execution for public and private colleges and universities, student housing facilities, charter schools and private secondary schools.

"With the resources of one of the nation's strongest financial institutions and robust bond origination and distribution capabilities, we are well-positioned to meet the needs of the education sector," Coma said. "Our integrated platform will benefit education clients beyond the transaction at hand, and we are committed to serving their long-term needs with focus and expert execution."

About BB&T Capital Markets
BB&T Capital Markets provides a full spectrum of capital and advisory solutions including research, sales and trading, equity and debt underwriting, M&A advisory and corporate banking. More information about BB&T Capital Markets is available at www.bbtcapitalmarkets.com.

About BB&T
BB&T is one of the largest financial services holding companies in the U.S. with $182.7 billion in assets and market capitalization of $23.8 billion, as of June 30, 2013. Based in Winston-Salem, N.C., the company operates 1,851 financial centers in 12 states and Washington, D.C., and offers a full range of consumer and commercial banking, securities brokerage, asset management, mortgage and insurance products and services. A Fortune 500 company, BB&T is consistently recognized for outstanding client satisfaction by J.D. Power and Associates, the U.S. Small Business Administration, Greenwich Associates and others. More information about BB&T and its full line of products and services is available at www.BBT.com.

SOURCE BB&T Capital Markets