Alesco and Dekania Loan Origination

Overview

Cohen & Company is a market leader in providing trust preferred, subordinated debt, and other hybrid financing to small to middle market community banks, thrifts, and insurance companies. We partner with numerous investment banks, correspondent banks, bankers’ banks, and reinsurance brokers to identify creditworthy borrowers. Through our Alesco Preferred Funding®, Dekania, and Dekania Europe CDO Programs, we have provided over $10 billion in trust preferred and other long-term financing to banks, thrifts, and insurance companies.

Our placement of trust preferred and other hybrid securities into periodically offered collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) provides our borrowers with access to capital that was previously cost prohibitive or available to only larger companies in the public debt markets. The efficiency of CDO financing is passed on to our issuers, as they are able to avoid most typical transaction related costs and borrow at interest rates that are more attractive than what is normally available in the private capital market.

Our team of professionals has a wealth of experience in the sectors we serve and a reputation for being dedicated long-term capital providers to community banks, thrifts, and insurance companies. Our understanding of industry trends, market conditions, and borrowers’ motivations for capital issuance enables us to tailor each transaction to suit each issuer’s individual needs.

After funding over 600 banks, thrifts, and insurance companies, we have developed a reputation for providing turn-key capital solutions. We are directly involved in each step of the transaction and retain a national law firm with extensive trust preferred securities structuring, regulatory, and documentation experience to act as our counsel. We are committed to ensuring that our issuers are informed about each aspect of the transaction and we remain in continuous communication to ensure a timely closing. Our relationships with borrowers do not end with each transaction closing, as our staff and outside counsel are always willing to address any of our issuers’ post-transaction logistical, legal, or regulatory questions or concerns.

Investment Suitability Analysis

We screen candidates for inclusion in our program on both a qualitative and quantitative basis according to parameters and guidelines developed by our internal underwriting staff and Credit Committee.

Criteria for Banks and Thrifts:

• FDIC Insured Deposits
• Pro forma minimum Tier One capital/risk weighted assets ratio of 10%
• Five or more years of operating history
• Minimum total assets of $100 million

Criteria for Insurance Companies:

• Total statutory capital of at least $20 million
• A.M. Best Rating of “B” or better
• Five or more years of operation history
• Net Premiums Written/Surplus 2.5x or less
• Five-year average combined ratio of 110% or less
• Total Debt/Total Capital of 45% or less

While these are guidelines, we have funded issuers who do not meet some of these criteria, but for which the combination of business strategy, management strength, and financial underpinnings were compelling.

Recent Transactions

Origination Team

Our investment team is comprised of 8 professionals headquartered in Philadelphia.

Shami J. Patel, Managing Director

Nicholas J. Daly, Director

Paul Devine, Managing Director

Samuel H. Hillier, Director

Peter Addei, Vice President

Leena Amin, Vice President

Mike Lardis, Associate

Katie Kohler, Associate

Shami J. Patel
Mr. Patel is a Managing Director of Cohen & Company and oversees the structuring and execution of the ALESCO transactions. Mr. Patel has extensive financial and capital markets expertise. He was previously the Chief Financial Officer of TRM Corporation (NASDAQ “TRMM”) and Chief Executive Officer of iATMglobal, a division of TRM Corporation. Mr. Patel also served as Vice President for Sirrom Capital, a $500 million mezzanine investment fund. Mr. Patel was formerly an investment banker at Robertson Stephens & Co. in the business services and specialty finance groups. Mr. Patel earned an M.B.A. and a J.D. with honors from Duke University.
spatel@cohenandcompany.com

team

Nicholas J. Daly, CFA
Mr. Daly is a Director at Cohen & Company and has been with the firm since 2003. He is actively involved in the origination, underwriting, and execution of bank/thrift trust preferred and other debt securities transactions. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Daly worked in Corporate Finance at Wachovia Securities Corporate and Investment Banking. While at Wachovia, he was involved in valuation, financial advisory, and capital placement for middle-market companies. Mr. Daly earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a concentration in Economics from Loyola College in Maryland.
ndaly@cohenandcompany.com

team

Paul Devine
Mr. Devine joined Cohen & Company in November 2006 as a Director and a member of its insurance team. He had previously worked for over twenty years at PNC Financial Services Group, most recently as the insurance credit officer for PNC Bank, N.A., and PNC Capital Markets. He received a B.A. in Economics at the University of Connecticut, served as a Marine Corps officer for three years, and then earned a Ph.D. in English literature at Vanderbilt University, He taught at Fisk, Penn, and Haverford before going through the C.B.A. program at the Wharton School and beginning a career in finance. He is a member of the advisory board of The Journal of Risk Management.
pdevine@cohenandcompany.com

team

Samuel H. Hillier
Mr. Hillier is a Director at Cohen & Company, where he primarily performs credit underwriting and monitoring on community banks and thrift institutions. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Hillier worked as an equity analyst at CBT Investment Management, where he focused on evaluating potential investments in banks and thrifts. Prior to CBT, he was a hedge fund analyst at Cambridge Associates. Mr. Hillier graduated from Kenyon College with a B.A. in Economics and Applied Mathematics.
shillier@cohenandcompany.com

team

Peter Addei
Mr. Addei is a Vice President at Cohen & Company, where he performs insurance industry credit underwriting and asset management functions. Prior to joining Cohen & Company, He served as a Capital Markets Associate at Wachovia Securities from 2000 to 2004 and was involved in the debt underwriting of financial institutions. Mr. Addei also worked at Databank Financial Services, Ltd., from 1996 to 1998, serving as a trader of debt and equity securities on the Ghana Stock Exchange. He holds an M.B.A. from Vanderbilt University and is a graduate of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, where he studied Agricultural Economics. Mr. Addei is a Senior Associate of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia.
paddei@cohenandcompany.com

team

Leena Amin
Ms. Amin is a Vice President at Cohen & Company, where she is actively involved in the origination, underwriting, and execution of bank/thrift trust preferred and other debt securities transactions. She joined Cohen & Company as a research intern in the equity research department. Prior to joining Cohen & Company, Ms. Amin worked at the law firm Morgan Lewis in the Employee Benefits group. She earned her M.B.A. with concentrations in Finance and Marketing from Drexel University and her B.A. in Political Science and Economics from Temple University.
lamin@cohenandcompany.com

team

Mike Lardis
Mr. Lardis is an Associate with Cohen and Company. He joined Cohen in 2005, and currently focuses on the origination, credit, and execution of trust preferred security issuances for community banks and thrifts. Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Lardis worked in the Valuation and Financial Opinions group at Stout Risius Ross, where he participated in valuation and financial advisory services for middle market companies. Prior thereto, Mr. Lardis was a credit analyst at Mercantile Bankshares, where he was responsible for reviewing and analyzing mid-sized commercial credits and syndicated loans. Mr. Lardis earned his Bachelors of Business Administration from Kent State University.
mlardis@cohenandcompany.com

team

Katie Kohler
Ms. Kohler is an Associate at Cohen & Company where she focused on bank credit underwriting.  She joined the firm in September 2005 as an equity research analyst co-covering small and mid cap banks. Prior to joining the firm, Katie worked on the Institutional Equity Sales Desk at Citigroup. Ms. Kohler received her BA in Finance from Loyola College in Maryland.
kkohler@cohenandcompany.com

team

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