Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Oppenheimer is a leading investment bank and full-service investment firm serving corporations, high net worth and institutional investors with a full suite of products and services. Based in New York City, we have approximately 3,500 employees in 86 offices in 22 U.S. states, including Washington, D.C.

We also have 3 international offices in Israel and South America and an agreement to acquire operations in London and Hong Kong later in 2008. As a leader in the capital markets, we provide sophisticated investment banking, research and trading solutions to growing companies, institutional investors and municipalities.

We are the eleventh-largest investment bank in the U.S. in terms of our number of registered Financial Advisors, with over 1,300 Financial Advisors serving our clients. More than 100 institutional equity sales and trading professionals cover 1,200 accounts, supported by over 75 senior equity and high yield research analysts, covering over 750 companies. We offer a full range of products and services to meet our clients' needs, including IPOs, follow-on equity offerings, PIPEs, private placements, merger and acquisition advisory, restructurings and other strategic advisory services.

Oppenheimer's Investment Bank is committed to providing strategic advisory services and capital access to emerging and mid-sized companies in a select group of industries. The shipping sector, in which we have managed approximately $1.1 billion of equity offerings, is one of our focus industries. Our long-term client relationships are grounded in a deep understanding of the global marketplace, the attention of our senior management team, knowledgeable sales force, extensive exposure to institutional and retail investors and substantive after-market support. We currently provide research coverage to a select group of drybulk and container shipping companies.

Oppenheimer is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. which trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol OPY. Oppenheimer, together with its affiliates, has approximately $68 billion of client assets under administration and approximately $19 billion of assets under management.