Treasury Goes North to Alaska for Toxic Asset Pick

The Treasury Department looked all the way to Alaska in its search for woman- or minority-owned financial companies to participate in its toxic-asset purchase program.

 

One of the nine woman-owned or minority-owned companies it selected for the $30 billion program was Artic Slope Regional Corp., which is based in Barrow, Alaska, and represents the interests of the Arctic Slope Inupiat tribe.

 

Arctic Slope has a wide range of business holdings, including a venture capital fund, government contracting companies, an oil refinery, an oilfield services firm and several construction businesses.

 

Oaktree Capital Management LP, one of the nine big financial firms selected to run the public-private pools that will buy toxic assets from banks, said in a press release that it would partner with Arctic Slope.

 

Another of the minority-owned companies chosen for the program was Advent Capital Management LLC, a New York firm with $3.5 billion under management. Its founder and president, Tracy V. Maitland, previously worked for Merrill Lynch & Co. Advent is best known for its convertible and high-yield bond funds.

 

Campaign finance records show that Maitland contributed $61,600 to Democratic political causes in the 2008 election , including $28,500 to the Democratic White House Victory Fund and $28,500 to ActBlue. Our check of contributors from the financial sector found that he was one of the biggest individual givers among executives whose firms were picked to participate in the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

 

The seven other woman- and minority-owned firms selected for participation in the toxic-securities program are:

 

--Altura Capital Group LLC

 

Altura provides research and advisory services to a number of large institutional investors, including the California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS), the California State Teachers' Retirement System and the Illinois State Board of Investments.

 

The New York-based company is headed by Monika Mantilla.

 

--Atlanta Life Financial Group Inc.

 

Atlanta Life is the parent company of Jackson Securities, founded in 1987 by the late Maynard H. Jackson. He was the first African-American mayor of that city and served three terms in office.

 

Jackson Securities' specialities include municipal finance, asset management and investment banking. Both Atlanta Life Financial Group and Jackson Securities are headed by William A. Clement.

 

--Blaylock Robert Van LLC

 

Blaylock Robert Van was created through a merger last year of Blaylock & Co. and Robert Van Securities LLC. The company, which has headquarters in Oakland, Calif., is partnering in the toxic-asset purchase program with Marathon Asset Management, one of the nine bigger firms selected to create and run the investment pools.

 

Blaylock Robert Van is headed by Eric Van Standifer, who founded Robert Van Securities in 1991.

 

--CastleOak Securities LP

 

CastleOak is a New York-based investment bank whose business includes equity sales and trading, bond sales and trading and financial advisory services. Co-founders David R. Jones, who is president and chief executive, and Nathaniel H. Christian, managing director and general counsel, previously worked for Blaylock & Co.

 

CastleOak created a dedicated eight-member TARP team last November to offer assistance to the Treasury and its contractors in the acquisition, management and sale of toxic assets through TARP.

 

Congress approved the $700 billion TARP initiative in October.

 

--Muriel Siebert & Co.

 

The publicly traded, New York Stock Exchange brokerage was established by Muriel Siebert four decades ago. It offers discount brokerage services as well as institutional equity trading, underwriting and investment banking.

 

Muriel Siebert remains chief executive of the brokerage and its parent company, Siebert Financial Inc., both based in New York.

 

Park Madison Partners LLC

 

Park Madison has headquarters in New York and provides private-placement services and strategic consulting to real estate developers, owners and investors.

 

Its managing partners are Nancy I. Lashine and Suzanne R. West.

 

--The Williams Capital Group LP

 

Williams Capital Group is the New York-based parent of Williams Capital Management LLC. It provides investment and capital-markets services to companies, government agencies and institutional investors.

 

Williams Capital Management announced in May that it had been selected by Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to manage $1 billion in securities issued by the Treasury and other government agencies.

 

Christopher J. Williams, the company's founder and chief executive, said that deal would help expand its asset-management business and reach new clients.

 

--Utendahl Capital Management LP

 

Utehndahl, which has headquarters in New York, provides institutional bond management services to large companies, public pension funds, endowments and foundations.

 

Chairman John O. Utendahl, a former vice president at Merrill Lynch, established the firm in 1992. It quickly won assignments to co-manage securitization deals for the Resolution Trust Corp. and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., known as Freddie Mac.

 

The firm's chief executive is Penny Zuckerwise. Its chief investment officer is Jo Ann Corkran.