NewSmith Financial Products appoints Insurance and Germany specialists to Financial Institutions Group

London, Wednesday, April 20, 2005

NewSmith Financial Solutions Ltd, the corporate advisory arm of NewSmith Capital Partners, has further strengthened its financial institutions practice with the appointments of Jameson Miller and Franz Pesendorfer as Partners.

Mr. Miller's appointment reflects NewSmith's growing involvement with the insurance sector. Mr. Pesendorfer's extensive experience of serving German financial institutions supports the firm's activities with major continental European clients in Germany.

Jameson Miller has a strong track record in insurance and structured products. He was formerly Managing Director at Bank of America in London, responsible for developing structured products for insurance company clients. He also managed the Structured Securities Group and served as Co-Head of Structuring in London. Before moving to London, Jameson was responsible for structured pension products and municipal derivatives at Bank of America. He has 20 years' experience in investment banking, derivatives and structured products. He began his career with Dean Witter Reynolds Inc. in the US.

Franz Pesendorfer has extensive experience in working with financial institutions, especially in Germany. He was formerly Managing Director at Calyon (Crédit Agricole Group), where he worked in the Financial Institutions Group, developing financial institutions business in Germany and Austria across all investment banking, debt and equity business lines. He has also worked at Lehman Brothers, where he was responsible for coverage of financial institutions in Germany and Austria for all debt products, with a focus on bank capital, securitisation, tax and derivative solutions. Franz has 17 years of experience in investment banking, and started his career at Oesterreichische Kontrollbank in Vienna as Executive Assistant to the Chairman and senior member of the International Financing Group.

"Franz and Jamie are first-class practitioners in the financial institutions area, and we are delighted to welcome them to the firm," said NewSmith partner TJ Lim. "These appointments reflect our growing number of financial institutions clients in the UK, Germany and other parts of continental Europe, requiring discreet, independent advice on their strategic balance sheet issues."