Fundamental Advisors and Industry Veteran Hector Negroni Partner to Launch Municipal Credit Opportunities Strategy

NEW YORK, June 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Fundamental Advisors LP ("Fundamental"), a private investment management firm that focuses on special situations in the municipal debt market, today announced the launch of Fundamental Credit Opportunities ("FCO"), which will deploy a unique strategy to capitalize on a lasting, recurring set of structural inefficiencies in the municipal market.  The new strategy will be co-led by Hector Negroni, who previously led municipals at Goldman Sachs & Co.  Mr. Negroni will serve as Co-Chief Executive Officer and Chief Investment Officer of FCO.

"We are pleased and excited to launch our new strategy in partnership with Hector Negroni, a veteran municipal portfolio manager with an outstanding record of success over his 20-year career," said Laurence Gottlieb, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Fundamental Advisors.  "Hector's extensive knowledge of the municipal market will prove invaluable as we launch FCO.  I look forward to working closely with him as we seek to identify and exploit unique opportunities in the municipal market to generate value for investors."

At Goldman Sachs, Mr. Negroni served as a managing director overseeing municipal capital commitments, flow and proprietary trading, money markets, collateralized lending and issuer derivatives.  Mr. Negroni joined Goldman Sachs in 2005 and has more than 20 years of municipal portfolio management experience.  Prior to working at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Negroni worked at Societe Generale, Lazard Freres and Citigroup.

Mr. Negroni frequently collaborates with industry trade groups, legislative and committee staffers and a wide range of regulators and policymakers on matters related to municipal market structure.  He served on the Municipal Division Executive Committee of the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and was a contributor to the recently published "The Fundamentals of Municipal Bonds" (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2012).

"This launch demonstrates an expansion of Fundamental's leading role as an alternative asset manager in the municipal market," Mr. Negroni said.  He added, "FCO will combine experienced professionals, a tailored capital base and a proven investment approach to address dynamics in the municipal universe otherwise unattended to by market participants. I look forward to growing this business with Laurence and my new colleagues at Fundamental, and providing our investors a unique investment platform."

About Fundamental Advisors
Fundamental Advisors was formed in July 2007 to invest in special situations related to the municipal revenue bond market, seeking to revitalize distressed assets in such sectors as senior care, affordable housing, student housing, infrastructure and hospitality.  Co-founders Laurence Gottlieb, who previously co-headed Citigroup's Municipal Distressed & Special Situations proprietary trading desk, and Dana Fusaris, who led Madison Capital Management's distressed and defaulted municipal bond effort, have worked together as industry colleagues or partners for over a decade.

CONTACTS
Michael Freitag / Jonathan Keehner
Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher
212-355-4449

SOURCE Fundamental Advisors LP