New global structure for Metals, mining & steel from Banc of America & Merrill Lynch

Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research Announces New Global Structure for Metals, Mining & Steel Research Team; Hires Peter O’Connor as Asia Pacific Mining Analyst

NEW YORK, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire/ — Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research today announced a new global structure for the Metals, Mining & Steel Research team, along with the hiring of Peter O’Connor as senior Asia Pacific mining analyst. The restructuring reflects three key markets, each with a lead regional base metal/diversified mining analyst.

Asia Pacific

O’Connor will head the Asia Pacific effort and will be based in Sydney, reporting to Andrew Kearnan, head of Australia Equity Research. O’Connor will assume lead coverage of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto and will take a primary role in coordinating our mining research effort in this fast-growing region. He previously worked at Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse. Takashi Enomoto will continue to cover Japanese steel, metals and mining companies.

Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA)

Jason Fairclough will assume the role of lead regional analyst for EMEA, covering large cap diversified miners, including Xstrata and Anglo American. In addition, Fairclough will work closely with O’Connor in the coverage of BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto for EMEA clients. Fairclough will also have direct responsibility for metals and mining research in Russia, South Africa and other regional offices. Fairclough reports to Simon Greenwell, head of EMEA Research.

Americas

Felipe Hirai will be the lead analyst covering diversified miners in the Americas, including Vale, the largest diversified miner with a primary listing in the region. Kuni Chen will continue to cover large cap U.S. mining companies, steel & coal. Hirai and Chen report to Steve Haggerty, head of Americas Equity Research.

“I am very pleased that Peter will be joining the team and increasing our metals, mining and steel research coverage in the Asia Pacific region,” said Candace Browning, head of Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Global Research. “I am confident that the new structure of the group will meet the evolving needs of our increasingly globally focused client base.”

The Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Global Metals, Mining and Steel Research team comprises 30 dedicated and contributing analysts covering 110 companies, representing USD$1.4 trillion in market capitalization.

Mike Jalonen will continue serving as lead global gold analyst and global coordinator for the group. Mike is based in Toronto.

The group’s research will continue to incorporate views from the global commodity research team, headed by Francisco Blanch and including Michael Widmer, recently hired metals commodity strategist.

The goal of Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch is to be the premier global research franchise, providing clients with exceptional service, value-added investment insights and alpha-generating investment recommendations. Since January 2009, Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Global Research has hired 21 analysts in the United States and an additional 35 analysts globally.

The company covers nearly 3,000 stocks globally and ranks in the top tier in many external surveys. Most recently the company was named Top Global Broker, Top U.S. Broker and No. 2 Europe Broker by Financial Times/StarMine and Best Brokerage by Forbes/Zacks. In addition, the company ranked No. 1 in the 2009 Institutional Investor All-Europe survey for Pan-European coverage, No. 2 in the Institutional Investor 2009 All-Brazil Research team survey, and No. 3 in the Institutional Investor 2009 All-Latin America and All-America Fixed-Income Research team surveys.

Bank of America

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Bank of America Merrill Lynch serves clients in more than 150 countries and has relationships with 99 percent of the U.S. Fortune 500 companies and nearly 96 percent of the Fortune Global 500.

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SOURCE Banc of America Securities-Merrill Lynch Research