BNP Paribas CIB Further Expands Merchant Banking Group

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwire - Sep 13, 2011) - BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking announced today the appointments of two managing directors, William Heafey and David McCollough to its Merchant Banking Group, Americas, in an effort to strengthen the group. Bill will lead the Leverage finance team in San Francisco. David will head the Healthcare finance team in New York. Both Bill and David will report to Bucky Khan, head of the Merchant Banking Group, Americas.

"We have been a consistent leader in providing acquisition and buy-out financing as Left Hand Lead/Book Runner for the middle market for over two decades," said Bucky. "I am happy to have Bill and David join our team as they bring invaluable expertise to BNP Paribas and will be key players in the growth of the firm's Merchant Banking Group."

Bill has over 13 years of leveraged finance experience and was previously a Managing Director at CIBC World Markets where he was a member of the Leveraged Finance/Sponsor Coverage team and co-manager of the Los Angeles office.

David has over 12 years of experience in healthcare leveraged finance and was most recently a Managing Director in the Healthcare Financial Services group at GE Capital, and prior to that an Executive Director in the Healthcare Investment Banking group at JPMorgan.

The Merchant Banking Group is part of the Structured Finance business line within Corporate and Investment Banking (CIB). In addition to the New York-based team, the Firm has offices in Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco. The Merchant Banking Group's other three leveraged finance teams in New York are headed by: Richard Cushing, Keith Murray and David Sommer. The Chicago office is led by Clark King and the Dallas office by Sean Davenport. All team leaders report to Bucky, whose career with BNP Paribas spans over 19 years.

BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking
BNP Paribas Corporate and Investment Banking employs around 20,000 people in over 50 countries and services 14,000 corporate and institutional clients worldwide.

BNP Paribas CIB excels in:
Derivatives - where it is one of the leading global players in rates, credit, forex, commodity and equity derivatives
Capital markets - where it is one of the top European houses in both ECM and DCM (bond, securitization, convertibles and equity issuance)
Structured finance - where it is amongst the leaders in acquisition, export, project, energy and commodity finance globally
www.cib.bnpparibas.com

About BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas (www.bnpparibas.com) is one of the strongest banks in the world*. The Group has a presence in more than 80 countries and more than 200,000 employees, including more than 160,000 in Europe. It ranks highly in its three core activities: Retail Banking, Investment Solutions and Corporate & Investment Banking. In Europe, the Group has four domestic markets (Belgium, France, Italy and Luxembourg) and BNP Paribas Personal Finance is the leader in consumer lending. BNP Paribas is rolling out its integrated retail banking model across the Europe-Mediterranean zone and boasts a large network in the western part of the United States. In its Corporate & Investment Banking and Investment Solutions activities, BNP Paribas also enjoys top positions in Europe, a strong presence in the Americas and solid and fast-growing businesses in Asia.

*Rated AA by Standard & Poor's i.e. 3rd rating level on a scale of 22.