PlacementTracker Publishes PIPE Market League Tables

Tassanee Sukramule Promoted to Vice President -- PlacementTracker


SAN DIEGO, July 20, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Sagient Research Systems, a leading publisher of independent research for the financial services and institutional investment communities, today announced that Rodman & Renshaw, LLC ranked as the No. 1 investment bank in the PIPE market in the first half of 2006 for total number of transactions. Nite Capital Management, LLC topped the list of most active institutional investors during the first half of 2006.

PlacementTracker, a flagship product of Sagient Research Systems, is well recognized as the leading provider of research, data, and analytics covering the PIPE market.

Commenting on the League Tables, Robert F. Kyle, executive vice president of Sagient Research said, "The first half of 2006 was extremely active in the U.S. PIPE market. During the six-month period we recorded 702 transactions totaling $16.2 billion in equity and equity-linked capital raised (excluding Structured Equity Lines and Canadian domiciled issuers). This represented a transaction count increase of 11.96% over the first half of 2005 and a 58.17% increase in total amount raised over the first half of 2005. If this pace continues, 2006 should set new records for both number of transactions and total dollars raised in the U.S. PIPE market. As always, we congratulate all of the active agents and investors in the PIPE market for a tremendous first half, especially those leaders who topped the League Tables. Many of these firms are long-time clients of PlacementTracker, and we look forward to continuing to provide them with industry leading data, research, and analytics to help keep them on top of this market."

Brian M. Overstreet, president & CEO of Sagient Research added, "We're also very pleased to announce that Tassanee Sukramule has assumed the position of Vice President -- PlacementTracker. In this new role, Tassanee will be leading all aspects of PlacementTracker's sales, analysis, client service, and product development. In her five years with Sagient, Tassanee has been a tremendous asset to the company and to our clients and we're happy to welcome her to this new position."

PlacementTracker's dynamically updating League Tables are available online at: www.sagientresearch.com/pt/leaguetables.cfm.

The First Half 2006 PIPE Market Institutional Investor League Table By Number of Transactions:



                                    Transaction
 Placement Agent Name                  Count      Total Amount Placed
 --------------------               -----------   -------------------
 Rodman & Renshaw, LLC                  20             $ 291,639,911
 Roth Capital Partners, LLC             16             $ 226,757,645
 Cowen and Company, LLC                 14             $ 654,101,499
 Midtown Partners & Co., LLC            10             $  28,844,077
 Sanders Morris Harris, Inc.             9             $ 161,862,851
 HPC Capital Management Corp.            9             $  40,313,604
 C.E. Unterberg, Towbin                  8             $  56,597,202
 Dawson James Securities, Inc.           8             $  55,290,542
 Banc of America Securities, LLC         7             $ 227,614,301
 Piper Jaffray & Co.                     7             $ 213,713,849
 Oppenheimer & Co., Inc.                 7             $ 131,908,750
 Ascendiant Securities, LLC              7             $  30,250,000
 Jefferies & Co., Inc.                   6             $ 278,544,750
 Burnham Hill Partners                   6             $  70,028,153
 Stonegate Securities, Inc.              6             $  50,550,000
 Deutsche Bank Securities, Inc.          5             $ 601,800,000
 Merriman Curhan Ford & Co.              5             $ 120,829,000
 Brean Murray, Carret & Co.              5             $  66,640,172
 Taglich Brothers, Inc.                  5             $  35,948,131
 vFinance Investments, Inc.              5             $  20,362,682
 Westminster Securities Corp.            5             $  10,325,000
 J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.                 4             $ 510,505,985
 Broadband Capital Management, LLC       4             $ 240,873,500
 UBS Investment Bank                     4             $ 201,834,001
 Needham & Company, Inc.                 4             $ 146,605,183

Investment Banking rankings exclude all Equity Line of Credit transactions and all PIPE transactions conducted by Canadian domiciled issuers. On transactions where an investment banking firm has acted solely as Financial Advisor, that transaction has been excluded from that firm's ranking. Co-agented transactions award full transaction credit to all agents participating (regardless of status of lead agent or co-agent). Data is as reported as of 7/19/06.

The First Half 2006 PIPE Market Institutional Investor League Table By Number of Transactions:



                                      Transaction
 Investor Name                          Count      Total Amount Invested
 -------------                        -----------  ---------------------
 Nite Capital Management, LLC              68          $  28,135,311
 Iroquois Capital, L.P.                    61          $  64,373,912
 Highbridge International, LLC             38          $  91,463,530
 Downsview Capital, Inc.                   34          $  28,012,608
 Cornell Capital Partners, L.P.            32          $ 170,151,491
 LH Financial Services Corp.               32          $  14,497,864
 Enable Capital Management                 30          $  35,929,763
 Bristol Capital Advisors, LLC             29          $  15,064,581
 Heights Capital Management, Inc.          28          $  68,342,187
 NIR Group, LLC                            27          $  29,299,995
 Magnetar Capital Master Fund, Ltd.        24          $  97,799,697
 Whalehaven Fund, Ltd.                     24          $  13,948,930
 SF Capital Partners, Inc.                 22          $  53,870,868
 Cantara (Switzerland) SA                  22          $   8,549,345
 UBS Capital Americas, LLC                 21          $  41,565,838
 Hudson Bay Capital Management, L.P.       20          $  20,452,265
 Double U Master Fund, L.P.                18          $  21,684,980
 DKR Management Company, Inc.              16          $  50,916,949
 Fort Mason Capital                        15          $  44,154,849
 Ramius Capital Group, LLC                 15          $  41,968,850
 Paramount Capital Asset Management        15          $   6,830,425
 Balyasny Asset Management, L.P.           13          $  35,758,842
 SDS Management, LLC                       13          $  12,200,848
 Lehman Brothers, Inc.                     12          $  91,999,625
 Crestview Capital Partners, LLC           12          $  23,764,161

Investor rankings exclude all Equity Line of Credit transactions and all PIPE transactions conducted by Canadian domiciled issuers. Investors classified as Corporate Investors and Insurance Companies have been excluded from this ranking. Data is as reported as of 7/19/06.

About Sagient Research Systems

Sagient Research Systems is a publisher of independent research. We develop, produce, and sell proprietary research products to mutual funds, hedge funds, and investment banks. Our business strategy is to continue to leverage our development, technology, and marketing expertise to solidify our position as a leading provider of independent research to the financial services and institutional investment communities. For more information, please visit the Sagient Research Systems website at www.sagientresearch.com.



            

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