KGS-Alpha Capital Markets Launches New Corporate Bond Business

NEW YORK, Feb. 28, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, a New York-based institutional fixed income broker-dealer, today announced the expansion of its platform with the addition of an investment grade Corporate Bond sales and trading team. The group is headed by industry veteran, Steve DiTursi, who has joined the firm, reporting to co-founders Levent Kahraman and Dan Goldman. KGS-Alpha also welcomes Joseph Scellato, Joseph Breakstone, Reggie Funderburk, Matthew Dunn, Edward Fritz, and Bill Paine, who have all joined the bond sales and trading team and report to Mr. DiTursi.

Steve DiTursi brings more than 25 years of experience in the fixed income markets with senior roles at firms including JVB Financial Group and Morgan Keegan & Company. He joins KGS-Alpha from Stone and Youngberg, where he was head of Fixed Income. Commenting on the appointment, KGS-Alpha CEO Levent Kahraman said: "Steve is a key hire in KGS-Alpha's overall growth trajectory. His broad product knowledge and success with growing middle market client businesses dovetail extremely well with our expansion plans across the fixed income spectrum."

Commenting on joining the firm DiTursi said: "I was very impressed by management and the team of experts already in place at KGS-Alpha. Given the firm's breadth and depth, we are ideally positioned to grow a robust corporate bond franchise."

Joseph Scellato joins KGS-Alpha as head Corporate Bond trader and brings more than 25 years of experience in corporate trading and was most recently with The Seaport Group, MF Global, and Jefferies. Joseph Breakstone provides 20 years of institutional experience, previously with MF Global. "We are pleased these two seasoned trading professionals have joined this exciting firm," said DiTursi.  

Reggie Funderburk joins the firm from dealer sales with Citibank and has over ten years of institutional fixed income experience. Matthew Dunn from Susquehanna International, Edward Fritz from Morgan Stanley and Bill Paine from Wunderlich Securities join the Corporate Bond sales team to focus on client distribution. Mr. Paine will be located in KGS-Alpha's San Francisco office. "Clearly we are off to a great start with this team, and we'll continue to add distribution capability," said DiTursi.

KGS-Alpha President Dan Goldman added: "The Corporate Bond business is an important strategic addition to our highly successful MBS and Structured Products operations." He added: "The strong combination of our solid capital base and growing team of talented sales and trading professionals across the country puts KGS-Alpha in an exceptional position to deliver best-in-class products and services to our institutional clients."

About KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, L.P.
KGS-Alpha Capital Markets is a New York-based institutional fixed income broker-dealer, focusing on mortgage-backed, asset-backed, and agency debt securities. Launched in 2010 with less than 15 people, KGS-Alpha now has a team of more than 100 professionals located in New York, Boston, San Francisco, Boca Raton, Chicago, Reston, and St. Louis. KGS-Alpha has also raised $150 million in two rounds of equity financing, most recently a $75 million investment led by an affiliate of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan (HOOPP), one of Canada's largest and most successful pension plans, with over $30 billion in net assets.

KGS-Alpha was founded by CEO Levent Kahraman and President, Dan Goldman. Mr. Kahraman started his trading career and worked with Salomon Brothers for eight years prior to joining Barclays Capital, where he devoted five years to building a leading-edge mortgage-backed securities business. Mr. Goldman brings a wealth of industry experience to KGS-Alpha having worked at Salomon Brothers/Citigroup for 25 years as head of North American fixed income sales and co-head of U.S. rates. For more information about KGS-Alpha, visit www.kgsalpha.com.

SOURCE KGS-Alpha Capital Markets, L.P.