OPBL & The Blackstone Group connection.....
Matthew L. Katzeff was appointed by the Board of Directors to the position of Chief Financial Officer on July 27, 2010. In December 2010, he was elected to the Board of Directors. Mr. Katzeff also is the Head of M&A and a Managing Director at Ashir Group, Inc., a financial consulting firm. Since beginning his investment banking career at The Blackstone Group, Mr. Katzeff has developed a successful 18 year career predominantly focused upon Mergers & Acquisitions advisory, Private Equity sourcing and execution, as well as the development and execution of debt and equity capital transactions, all across a wide array of industry sectors as well as corporate sizes and situations. Since his tenure at Blackstone, Mr. Katzeff was a member of the M&A teams at SBC Warburg Dillon Read (currently UBS), Credit Suisse First Boston and Peter J. Solomon Company. Mr. Katzeff then became a Vice President with North Atlantic Trading Company, focusing on the sourcing and execution of both stand-alone and “bolt-on” private equity investments, primarily within the consumer products sector. He was also responsible for the financing and refinancing of a number of the company’s investments and acquisitions, including the arrangement of senior debt facilities and high-yield offerings.
Immediately prior to joining Ashir Group, Mr. Katzeff was a Managing Director with J Giordano Securities Group, an investment banking boutique in which he focused upon the development, strategy and execution of debt and equity capital transactions as well as M&A across a number of industry sectors. Mr. Katzeff’s experiences at both bulge-bracket institutions as well as boutique investment firms have given him a unique and very well-rounded perspective enabling him to be truly value-added with respect to corporate strategy, development and value, while maintaining a very strong sense of creativity.
Mr. Katzeff has closed transactions amounting to an aggregate value of approximately $18 billion, including the Blackstone Group’s acquisition of Wahaha Group Corporation, a large Chinese consumer products company. Sectors in which Mr. Katzeff has operated include telecommunications, consumer products, retail, business process outsourcing, teleservices, IT services, aerospace & defense, healthcare, building materials, gaming, enterprise software, financial institutions, natural resources, alternative fuels, and general industrial & manufacturing. Corporate situations have included public and private entities, family-owned situations, joint ventures, corporate partnerships and defense from hostile acquisitions. Mr. Katzeff graduated from Cornell University, earning a BS in Economics with a concentration in International Finance. He is Series 7, 63 and 79 licensed and is also proficient in Spanish and Japanese.
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LET'S ALL MAKE SOME $$$$$$$
