Brandan Holmes

Moody's Investors Service Ltd. is the Great Britain-based investment research subsidiary of Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO) in the US. The firm was founded in 1985 under the name Rapidcredit Ltd. Headquartered in London, Moody's Investors Service provides credit ratings, research, and risk analysis. Credit ratings and research help investors analyze the credit risks associated with fixed-income securities. Such independent credit ratings and research also contribute to efficiencies in fixed-income markets and other obligations, such as insurance policies and derivative transactions, by providing credible and independent assessments of credit risk.

PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC provides assurance, tax and advisory services. Its services include audit and assurance, consulting, deals, human resources, legal, tax, and family business. The firm also offers accountability, risk management, structuring, mergers and acquisitions, and performance and process improvement. The company was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Buffalo, NY.

Assured Guaranty Corp. operates as financial guarantor. It is a diversified financial guarantor engages in insuring both public finance and structured finance obligations, including asset-backed securities. The company was founded in 1988 and is headquartered in New York, NY.

Moody's Investors Service, Inc. is a credit rating and investment research firm headquartered in New York City. They are a subsidiary of Moody's Corp. (NYSE: MCO). The firm performs international financial research and analysis on commercial and government entities and provides a variety of analytic tools for assessing credit risk. Their clients include creditors, investment banks and commercial banks.

Smith Affiliated Capital Corp. (SAC) is a registered investment advisor headquartered in New York City. The firm was founded by Robert G. Smith in 1982 and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Smith Affiliated Ventures LLC. SAC provides investment advice for separately managed portfolios of individual and institutional investors.