Will Focus On Sales, Trading, Other Areas
An aviation finance group has been launched by R.W. Pressprich
& Co., a fixed income and equity broker-dealer headquartered in
New York. The announcement Tuesday coincides with the hiring of
Steve Welo, CFA, as Managing Director.
Mr. Welo joins Pressprich after a 13-year career at Piper
Jaffray, where he focused on aviation finance in both Institutional
Sales and Investment Banking. Throughout his career, Mr. Welo has
developed in-depth relationships with investors, aviation lessors,
airlines, manufacturers, and lenders. Mr. Welo joins the Pressprich
offices in Minneapolis where the Pressprich Aviation Finance team
will be headquartered.
The Pressprich Aviation team will focus on sales, trading, and
analytics of Enhanced Equipment Trust Certificates (EETC), Aircraft
ABS (Asset Backed Security), and private transactions, as well as
providing advisory services to a variety of clients, including
airlines, leasing companies, asset managers, and aviation
investors. The team will support a growing volume of business for
Pressprich; 2008 and 2009 were record years for the firm, as
institutional investors turned to R.W. Pressprich for trading
relationships and sources of liquidity.
Mr. Welo will be joining Clay Smith, Jeff Golbus and Vincent Lim
as members of the R.W. Pressprich Aviation Finance Group.
Clay Smith, CFA, Managing Director, joined Pressprich in 2009 as
a Senior Analyst with responsibilities in special situation bank
loans and aviation research. Prior, Mr. Smith spent 13 years in
senior research roles at AIG, American Express, and most recently,
at Deephaven Capital Management. As an institutional investor, Mr.
Smith managed a large portfolio of Aircraft ABS securities as well
as being actively involved in several corporate restructurings. Mr.
Smith was also involved in the re-packaging of structured aircraft
transactions. Mr. Smith holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from
the University of California at Irvine, an M.S. in Electrical
Engineering from the University of Southern California, and an
M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.
Jeff Golbus, named CFA and Managing Director and Head of
Aviation Finance Trading, spent the majority of his career as an
institutional investor. As a Portfolio Manager at Deephaven Capital
Management, Mr. Golbus was a large EETC/ETC investor and was
actively involved in the United Airlines and Northwest Airlines
bankruptcies. Previously, he actively handled workout situations at
Nationwide Insurance from 2001 to 2005, and served as Vice
President of AIG/SunAmerica in private placements from 1998 to
2001. Mr. Golbus received his B.A. from Michigan State University
and his M.B.A. from the University of Chicago, and joined
Pressprich in 2009.
Vincent Lim, CFA, Associate Director, joined R.W. Pressprich
this year, as a research analyst in the firm's Aviation Finance
Group. Prior to joining Pressprich, Mr. Lim was an analyst with
Deephaven Capital Management, where he was a member of the
distressed credit team. Mr. Lim has also previously worked as an
analyst with Triage Capital Management, and began his career as an
investment banking analyst specializing in telecommunications
companies at Salomon Smith Barney. Mr. Lim received a B.S. in
Systems Engineering and Economics from the University of
Virginia.
"We are pleased to welcome such a distinguished group of
professionals to R.W. Pressprich and expand our services into
Aviation Finance to help create value for our clients," said Joe
Calvo, President and COO of R.W. Pressprich & Co.