KBW Bolsters European Investment Banking Effort

Nick Triggs Named Co-Head of European Investment Banking; Several Other New Hires Announced

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- KBW, Inc. (NYSE: KBW), a full-service investment bank that specializes in the financial services sector, today announced a build-up in its European investment banking group with the hiring of several experienced Financials bankers in the firm’s London office.

Nick Triggs joins KBW veteran Stephen Howard as Co-Head of European Investment Banking effective immediately. Mr. Triggs brings a significant amount of corporate finance experience to KBW, specializing in insurance and specialty finance transactions in the Nordic and UK markets in particular. He is the former Head of European Investment Banking at Fox-Pitt, Kelton Limited (which was purchased by Macquarie Group in 2009) having been part of the team that led the buy-out from Swiss Re. Earlier in his career, Mr. Triggs spent time doing advisory work for Chase Manhattan Bank and Citicorp Investment Bank.

Stephen Howard joined KBW in September 2004 to launch the firm’s European investment banking effort following a 16-year career at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein.

“We are pleased to welcome Nick to KBW and believe he will be a strong addition to our extraordinary team of investment banking professionals already in place,” said Peter Wirth, KBW Global Head of Investment Banking. “He brings a wealth of experience, strong client relationships and impressive track record of initiating, executing and closing financial services deals to our firm.”

“KBW is now one of the few remaining independent specialist firms focused on financial institutions left in Europe and I am extremely pleased to join the firm at such a crucial time for the industry,” commented Mr. Triggs. “Given the current environment, we expect financial services companies to start raising additional capital as they look to further strengthen their balance sheets.”

“Given our expanding global platform following the build-out of our Asian business, KBW is extremely well-positioned for an expected pick-up in M&A deal activity, which allows us the unique potential to become the industry’s cross-border M&A advisor of choice,” added KBW’s Stephen Howard.

KBW is also announcing the appointment of several Managing Directors to the European Investment Banking & Equity Capital Markets teams:

• Simon Abel is focused on UK life and non-life insurance, brokers and general financials. He spent nearly 10 years at Fox-Pitt, Kelton/Macquarie as a Managing Director, evaluating and executing a variety of corporate finance transactions. Previously, he was in Corporate Finance at PricewaterhouseCoopers and began his career as a Research Equity Analyst with Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Merrill Lynch.
• Kim Bergoe has experience providing advisory services for Nordic financials and European market structure companies including exchanges, clearing/settlement houses and payment service providers. He joins KBW from Fox-Pitt, Kelton/Macquarie and has also worked for WestLB in London, as well as Gudme Raaschou and BG Bank in Copenhagen as a Banks Equity Research Analyst.
• Ryan Brown joins KBW after spending the last dozen years at Fox-Pitt, Kelton/Macquarie. Most recently he served as Managing Director with primary responsibility for the reinsurance and non-life insurance segment in the UK, including Lloyd’s of London. He also held a number of the firm’s key private equity relationships.
• Jim Donnet joins KBW after a two-year stint as Managing Director for Fox-Pitt, Kelton/Macquarie, where he was responsible for handling numerous financial services transactions in both growth and mature markets. He has extensive experience handling M&A and equity capital markets assignments for the financial institutions groups at ABN AMRO, Royal Bank of Scotland and HSBC.
• Oliver Asplin Hearsey comes to KBW after nearly four years at Fox-Pitt, Kelton/Macquarie, where he was responsible for the European Equity Capital Markets product. He has extensive experience in capital raising for financial institutions and previously spent some 10 years at JP Morgan.

Including these new appointments, KBW’s European investment banking & ECM practice now has 24 employees and offers a full spectrum of corporate finance services including: M&A advisory, equity capital raising, IPO underwriting and private equity advisory. KBW plans to launch a full-service corporate broking offering in early 2011 that will provide a differentiated service to UK financial services firms.

Operating in the United States, Europe and Asia, KBW’s resources are larger than any other specialist firm, with more than 530 employees focused exclusively on the financial services sector. Since 2004, KBW is the leading M&A advisor to U.S. financial institutions, brokering 290 transactions. The firm is also the number one ranked lead or co-lead manager for common stock offerings issued by financial institutions during the same time period.

About KBW

KBW operates in the U.S., Europe and Asia through its broker dealer subsidiaries, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, Inc., Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Limited and Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Asia Limited. It also offers asset management services through KBW Asset Management, Inc. Founded in 1962, the firm is widely recognized as a leading authority in the banking, insurance, brokerage, asset management, mortgage banking, real estate and specialty finance sectors. The firm has established industry-leading positions in the areas of research, corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions as well as sales and trading in equities of financial services companies.

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European Press:
Intermarket Communications
Krista Eccleston, +1-917-239-0731
[email protected]
or
U.S. Media:
Intermarket Communications
Neil Shapiro, +1-212-754-5423
[email protected]

Source: KBW, Inc.