Oppenheimer's Investment Banking Operations Continue to Expand Across Multiple Sectors in New York, San Francisco, and Houston With Six New Hires

NEW YORK, Oct. 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- The Investment Banking division of Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., a unit of Oppenheimer Holdings (NYSE: OPY), is pleased to announce six new executive hires to the healthcare, rental services and logistics, energy, technology and real estate teams.

The recent hires underscore the firm's recent growth, particularly in investment banking. Oppenheimer's capital markets business segment, including investment banking, generated $150 million through the first six months of 2014, a 13% increase over last year, according to the company's most recent quarterly release.

The new hires include:

• Alexander Lim, Managing Director – Healthcare. Alex joins the firm from Lazard Freres, where he was responsible for origination as well as leading client overage and execution for companies in the biotech, diagnostics and life science tools sector. He will continue his focus on the Healthcare Life Sciences sector and is based in Oppenheimer's San Francisco office.
• Neha Motwani, Executive Director – Healthcare. Neha joins Oppenheimer from Stifel, where she covered companies in the life sciences sector. During her 15-year career, she has been involved in more than 70 equity and financial advisory transactions. She continues to focus on Healthcare Life Sciences and works out of the company's New York office.
• Fred Larsen, Managing Director – Rental Services and Logistics. Fred joins Oppenheimer from Henley Associates, an independent financial advisory firm that he helped found. Before that, he was at Piper Jaffray where he was responsible for global transaction origination, execution and client coverage for middle market transportation and logistics firms. He joins Oppenheimer's Rental Services & Logistics group and is based in New York.
• Ramzi Nassar, Managing Director – Oil Field Services. Ramzi joins the company from the Global Energy Investment Banking of Citigroup Global Markets. He previously worked at an engineering firm and was General Manager and President of eLinear Solutions Middle East FZ in the United Arab Emirates. Ramzi began his investment banking career at Morgan Stanley, and then worked at CIBC World Markets' M&A Group. He joins Oppenheimer's Energy group and will continue to focus on the Oil Field Services sector out of Oppenheimer's Houston branch.
• Blake Williams, Managing Director – Hardware and Emerging Technology. Blake joins Oppenheimer's Technology group from Cowen, where he was responsible for client relationships with mid-cap domestic and international companies in the semiconductor, capital equipment, emerging technology and optical sectors. Prior to Cowen, Blake spent nine years with Piper Jaffray as a Managing Director in the Technology, Media and Telecommunications Group and as Head of Semiconductor, Component and Communications.  He is now based in San Francisco.
• Steven Cheng, Executive Director – Real Estate. Steve moves to Oppenheimer from Big Ocean, a boutique investment banking firm. He began his investment banking career at RBC Capital Markets in 2005. He will continue his focus on the Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) sector and work out of the New York office.

"We are very pleased that our multi-product, multi-sector focus is not only resonating with our clients, evidenced by our recent growth, but is also attracting such talented bankers to our platform," said Bruce McCarthy, Managing Director, Co-Head Investment Banking and Head of Mergers & Acquisitions.   

"We are very excited with the addition of these senior bankers," said Marc Thompson, Managing Director, Co-Head Investment Banking and Head of Technology. "They each bolster our ability to deliver our middle-market clients a combination of tremendous domain expertise and Oppenheimer's best-in-class service offerings."

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. (Oppenheimer), a principal subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc.
(OPY on the New York Stock Exchange), and its affiliates provide a full range of wealth management, securities brokerage and investment banking services to high-net-worth individuals, families, corporate executives, local governments, businesses and institutions.

Certain statements in this release may constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, as discussed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

SOURCE Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.