Joao P. Valli

UBS Ltd. (Broker) is the Great Britain-based brokerage division of UBS Ltd.,the wholly-owned subsidiary of Switzerland-based UBS AG (SWX: UBSN; NYSE: UBS). Established in 1975, the firm is located in London. UBS Ltd.'s business is organized in three departments: fixed-income, rates and currencies; equity and investment banking. UBS Ltd. (Broker) engages in equity trading, equity derivatives and equity-linked products. The equity research department covers a diverse range of sectors globally and also supplies macroeconomic analysis, quantitative and derivative research. The fixed-income, rates and currency business covers credit, rates, commodities including energy and metals, municipal bonds, Forex and cash and collateral trading globally. Their investment banking activities include analysis, structuring, transaction negotiation and communication.

Merrill Lynch International (MLI-UK) is a brokerage firm headquartered in London, UK. The firm was founded in 1988 and is a subsidiary of ML UK Capital Holdings Ltd., ultimately owned by Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) in the US. MLI-UK provides brokerage services to individual and retail clients.

Sanford C. Bernstein Ltd. is a securities brokerage firm headquartered in London, UK. They are a subsidiary of Alliancebernstein Corp. of Delaware, ultimately held by Equitable Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: EQH) in the US. Founded in 1999, the firm provides fundamental research and full service execution services to institutional clients globally. They offer bottom-up coverage and portfolio strategies supported by sophisticated quantitative tools.