Benjamin Thomas Hejna

Vance Street Management LLC (Vance Street) is a private equity firm founded in 2007 by Richard R. Crowell and Richard K. Roeder. The firm is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.

Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith, Inc. (MLPFS) is the SEC-registered broker/dealer subsidiary of Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc., ultimately held by Charlotte-based Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC). The firm was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in New York City. In 2010, Banc of America Securities LLC merged with MLPFS and the firm uses the trade name Bank of America Merrill Lynch. MLPFS's global strategy and economics team serves institutional and individual investors using a wide range of macroeconomic disciplines. Their analysis of global issues provides clients with investment ideas, market forecasts, macro overviews and specific sector recommendations across asset classes, regions and disciplines. Their equity research team conducts fundamental analysis on companies globally and provides institutional and retail clients with industry-specific and in-depth research and analysis on numerous industries. The firm's global fixed-income and equity-linked research focuses on fixed-income and equity derivatives, fixed-income strategy, convertibles, commodities, high-yield, mortgages, municipals and global foreign exchange.

Founded in 1999 by Malcolm Fairbairn, Ascend Capital LLC is a registered investment advisor and hedge fund manager located in Orinda, California. The firm generally provides investment advice to private investment funds and institutional separate accounts. Investors in the funds include: pension and profit sharing plans; trusts, estates and charitable organizations; funds-of hedge-funds (whether organized as partnerships, corporations or other entity types); and high net-worth individuals and family offices.