BIOS

Stuart Gelfond Corporate Partner Fried Frank

Mr. Gelfond concentrates his practice in corporate finance transactions, including representation of issuers and underwriters, in domestic and international high-yield, investment-grade and convertible debt offerings, acquisition financings, initial public offerings and follow-on equity offerings. He regularly works with clients in the shipping, energy, mining and automotive industries. He has also been actively involved in corporate restructurings, including acting as lead counsel to ACA Capital Holdings, Sonic Automotive and NewLead Holdings in their corporate reorganizations.

He also regularly represents clients in private equity and other acquisition transactions. Mr. Gelfond has experience serving as counsel to corporations and broker-dealers on securities, corporate governance and other regulatory issues.

Vasiliki Tsaganos Corporate Partner Fried Frank

Ms. Tsaganos concentrates her practice in corporate transactions and securities matters. She has broad experience in a variety of financing transactions, representing issuers, underwriters and selling stockholders, including public offerings and private placements. She also regularly counsels clients on a wide variety of corporate governance, securities law compliance and other general corporate matters. She has represented clients in the shipping industry on both debt and equity offerings.


Paul Leand
Managing Director and CEO
AMA Capital Partners

Paul joined the Company in 1998 and became CEO at the beginning of 2004. After joining AMA, he led the development of AMA's restructuring practice, helping AMA earn its position as the pre-eminent maritime restructuring advisor for both creditors and companies alike. He has been involved in the restructuring of numerous high yield issues including Golden Ocean, ACL, Global Ocean, Pegasus and Enterprises, giving AMA over 70% market share in maritime restructuring assignments from 2000-2004. Paul recently led AMA's efforts in the restructurings of PetroMENA ASA, PetroProd Ltd and Petrojack ASA.

Paul has also been involved in M&A roles with SFL (buy side), TECO Transport (buy side) and also spearheaded the firm's private equity investments in Chembulk and PLM. Paul also has extensive experience in structuring leasing and debt facilities. Prior to joining AMA, he worked at The First National Bank of Maryland. Over a nine year period, Paul managed the bank's Railroad Division and, later, it's International Maritime Division. Paul holds a BS/BA from Boston University's School of Management and is a Director of Ship Finance International Ltd. (NYSE) , Golar LNG Partners LP (Nasdaq) , privately held Helm International and is currently serving as interim CEO of container lessor - Seaco.


Chris Weyers
Managing Director, Investment Banking
Stifel Nicolaus Weisel

Chris runs Stifel's in 2012 Maritime investment banking practice. Prior to joining Stifel he was a Managing Director and head of and head of Maritime and Transportation investment banking at FBR Capital Markets. Chris also ran the Maritime and Transportation investment banking practice for Fortis Securities and was a Vice President at Bear Stearns focused on the Maritime and Transportation sectors.

Chris has 13 years of capital markets, M&A advisory and restructuring experience with Maritime and Transportation companies. During his career he has worked on over 50 public or private debt and equity transactions totaling over $20 billion in value and advised on over 25 announced M&A transactions with an aggregate value of over $10 billion. His clients have included companies such as Diana Shipping, Diana Container Shipping, Northern Shipping, Eagle Bulk Shipping, Excel Maritime, Vantage Drilling, Seadrill, Deep Sea Supply, Chiquita Brands, American Railcar and Aircastle.

Chris holds a Bachelor degree in Accounting from Indiana University, an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Thane Carlston Managing Director, Co-Head of Recapitalization & Restructuring Moelis & Company

Mr. Carlston has been in the investment banking industry for 20 years. From 1998 until joining Moelis & Company in 2008, he was Co-Head of the Recapitalization and Restructuring Group at Jefferies & Company. During his leadership, Jefferies advised on nearly $200 billion of restructuring transactions. Before joining Jefferies, he ran the New York office for Chanin and Company, a boutique investment banking firm specialized in providing restructuring advice. Mr. Carlston has extensive experience advising companies, equity sponsors, bondholders and creditor groups in out-of-court restructurings as well as pre-packaged, pre-arranged and unplanned Chapter 11 reorganizations. He has structured and led numerous exchange offers, consent solicitations and lender negotiations in a variety of industries. In addition to advising clients on recapitalization and restructuring services, he has advised on a number of financing and M&A transactions.

Lawrence Kwon Senior Vice President Moelis & Company

Mr. Kwon has over 12 years of investment banking and advisory experience. Mr. Kwon has extensive experience advising both companies and investors in a broad range of industries including commercial and residential real estate, lodging, gaming, financial services, and general industrials across a variety of transactions including mergers & acquisitions, financial restructurings and capital raises. Mr. Kwon has advised clients in both domestic U.S. transactions as well as numerous cross-border transactions involving parties in Asia, Canada, Mexico and the Middle East. Prior to joining Moelis & Company, Mr. Kwon was a Vice President in the investment banking division of Jefferies & Company where he advised clients on financial restructurings, mergers and acquisitions and capital raising transactions. Prior to Jefferies & Company, Mr. Kwon was a management consultant in Accenture's supply chain practice.

Established in 1987, AMA is the only merchant banking partnership in the U.S. exclusively focused on the transportation and energy industries representing proven expertise across a wide spectrum of advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, restructuring distressed companies, capital raising and strategic planning.  AMA provides a unique cross section of skill sets and resources including long-term industry relationships at all levels providing both corporate and asset level insight, direct access to decision makers representing a variety of capital sources seeking investments in different layers of the capital structure and we are independent – no ancillary agendas – focusing our success with that of our clients.

AMA also actively manages funds to invest equity and mezzanine debt as well as provide asset leasing options to owners and operators.  Members of AMA also serve on boards of directors of publicly listed Ship Finance International, General Maritime, Seaspan, SeaCo and Golar LNG Partners.

ABOUT FRIED FRANK

 

Fried Frank is one of the world’s most active corporate law firms with a presence in principal financial centers in the Americas, Europe and Asia.  Growing with our clients’ businesses, we regularly represent companies in each stage of development.  We advise start-ups, middle-market players as well as some of the world’s leading corporations and financial institutions on their most important and complex matters.  Our team also has particular experience advising international companies on their US-related corporate finance, capital markets and merger and acquisitions transactions.  Some of our notable international clients include: Grupo Televisa S.A.B., Rio Tinto plc, Virgin Media, Inc., Navios Maritime Holdings Inc., Total S.A., ArcelorMittal, Mettler-Toledo International Inc., ArcelorMittal, McJunkin Red Man Corporation, Novelis Inc. and Merck & Co., Inc.     

ABOUT MOELIS & COMPANY

Moelis & Company, recently named Most Innovative Boutique of the Year by The Banker for 2011 and in 2010 and Best Global Independent Investment Bank by Euromoney in 2010, is a global investment bank that provides financial advisory, capital raising and asset management services to a broad client base including corporations, institutions and governments.  With more than 580 employees, Moelis & Company serves its clients through offices in New York, Beijing, Boston, Chicago, Dubai, Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles and Sydney.  For more information, please visit www.moelis.com.

ABOUT STIFEL NICOLAUS WEISEL

 

Stifel Nicolaus Weisel is a leading Investment Bank principally focused on the middle-market. We manage public offerings of equity and debt securities, raise debt and equity in the private markets, and initiate, structure, and negotiate mergers, acquisitions and divestitures.

We boast thirteen industry focused investment banking groups together with specialty groups providing coordinated financial sponsors coverage and private placement expertise. Our bankers take pride in delivering innovative solutions to meet our clients' needs for capital or for realization of shareholder value.

As strategic advisor, underwriter or placement agent, Stifel Nicolaus Weisel stands ready to provide the insight and expertise our clients require from a full service Investment Bank and to deliver the full resources of our institutional Capital Markets platform and Retail Brokerage network that are among the most highly regarded in the nation.

 

ABOUT CAPITAL LINK, INC. 

Capital Link is a New York-based Investor Relations and Financial Communications firm. Capitalizing on our in-depth knowledge of the shipping industry and capital markets, Capital Link has made a strategic commitment to the industry becoming the largest provider of Investor Relations and Financial Communications services to international shipping companies listed on the US and European Exchanges. Capital Link's headquarters are in New York with a presence in London and Athens.

In our effort to enhance the information flow to the investment community and contribute to improving investor knowledge of shipping, Capital Link has undertaken a series of initiatives beyond the traditional scope of our investor relations activity:

• www.CapitalLinkShipping.com: A web based resource which provides information on the major shipping and stock market indices, as well as on all shipping stocks. It also features industry reports from major industry participants and interviews with CEOs, analysts and other market participants. The information on the website is not an offer to buy or sell any kind of securities nor does it constitute investment advice of any kind. Capital Link does not represent or warrant the accuracy of the information in this site. The user of the site acknowledges that he/she accesses the information at his/her own risk and cannot hold Capital Link liable for any matter in any way and will use the website in accordance with the Terms and Conditions specified on the website.
• Weekly Capital Link Shipping eNewsletter: Weekly distribution to an extensive audience in US & European shipping investor community.
• Sector Forums & Webinars: Periodically, we organize panel discussions among CEOs and analysts on various shipping sectors (containers, dry bulk, tankers) and on other topics of interest.
• Capital Link Investor Shipping Forums: in New York, Athens and London, which bring together investors, financial advisors, listed companies CEOs, analysts, and shipping industry participants.
• www.MaritimeIndices.com: Capital Link Maritime Indices: Capital Link developed and maintains a series of stock market maritime indices which track the performance of U.S. listed shipping stocks (CL maritime Index, CL Dry Bulk Index, CL Tanker Index, CL Container Index, CL LNG/LPG Index, CL Mixed Fleet Index, CL Shipping MLP Index - Bloomberg page: CPLI).