Date: Thursday, May 8, 2008
Author: Businesswire.com

Led by Hedge Funds, Alternative Investment Firms Represent 40% of YTD M&A Activity in 2008, According to Jefferies Putnam Lovell:

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sales of alternative investment firms account for a record 40% of deals in the global investment management business thus far in 2008, according to Jefferies Putnam Lovell, a leading adviser on alternative investment transactions and the division of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF) focused on the asset management and financial technology industries.

Through April 2008, 29 of the 73 transactions announced involve alternative investment firms, according to New York-based Jefferies Putnam Lovell. The total includes 20 transactions of hedge fund and fund of hedge fund (FoHF) managers. Deal flow in 2007 involving alternative investment firms represented 32% of the 241 total transactions in the global asset management industry.

‘’We expect record demand for alternative asset managers to continue throughout 2008, motivated by buyers’ search for absolute returns and innovative products in challenging capital markets,’’ said Aaron H. Dorr, a New York-based Managing Director at Jefferies Putnam Lovell.

Jefferies Putnam Lovell has been involved as financial adviser in several of this year’s most significant transactions involving firms in the alternatives sector, including:

• This week’s announced sale of an interest in Stamford, CT-based Aladdin Capital Management, which focuses on non-traditional fixed income strategies, to Japan’s Mitsubishi Corp.
• The announced reverse merger between global multi-strategy investment firm Halcyon Asset Management and Alternative Asset Management Acquisition Corp., a publicly traded SPAC (AMEX: AMV). March 2008.
• The sale of an interest in Hong Kong-based alternative investment specialist Vision Investment Management to Turin-based investment company IFIL. February 2008.
• The sale of Carlsbad, CA-based hedge fund administrator HedgeWorks to Deutsche Bank. January 2008.

About Jefferies Putnam Lovell

Putnam Lovell, the division of Jefferies & Company, Inc. focused on the financial services industry, offers a wide range of corporate advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice and capital raising. Putnam Lovell’s global client base is comprised of diversified financial services firms, institutional and mutual fund managers, alternative investment managers, banks, broker-dealers, insurers, and financial technology firms. Putnam Lovell was founded in 1987 and operates from offices in New York, San Francisco, Boston, and London. Since July 2007, Putnam Lovell has been a division of Jefferies & Company, Inc., the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF). For more information please visit www.putnamlovell.com

About Jefferies

Jefferies, a global investment bank and institutional securities firm, has served growing and mid-sized companies and their investors for 45 years. Headquartered in New York, with more than 25 offices around the world, Jefferies provides clients with capital markets and financial advisory services, institutional brokerage, securities research and asset management. The firm is a leading provider of trade execution in equity, high yield, convertible and international securities for institutional investors and high net worth individuals. Jefferies & Company, Inc. is the principal operating subsidiary of Jefferies Group, Inc. (NYSE: JEF; www.jefferies.com)