Full Description

Oppenheimer Holdings Inc., through its operating subsidiaries, incorporated on May 11, 2005, is a middle-market investment bank and full service broker-dealer. The Company is engaged in a range of activities, including retail securities brokerage, institutional sales and trading, investment banking (both corporate and public finance), research, market-making, and investment advisory and asset management services. The Company owns, directly or through subsidiaries, Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., (Oppenheimer), Oppenheimer Asset Management (OAM), Freedom Investments Inc. (Freedom), Oppenheimer Trust Company (Oppenheimer Trust), OPY Credit Corp. and Evanston Financial Inc. (Evanston).

On January 14, 2008, the Company acquired CIBC World Markets’ United States Investment Banking, Corporate Syndicate, Institutional Sales and Trading, Equity Research, Options Trading and a portion of the Debt Capital Markets business, which includes convertible bond trading, loan syndication and trading, high yield origination and trading, as well as CIBC Israel Limited. On September 5, 2008 and November 4, 2008, the Company completed the acquisition of the operations related to the CIBC Capital Markets Business in the United Kingdom and Asia.

Private Client

Through its private client division, Oppenheimer provides a range of financial services through a network of 1,333 financial advisors in 86 offices located throughout the United States, and in two offices in Latin America through local broker-dealers. Clients include high-net-worth individuals and families, corporate executives, and small and mid-sized businesses. Clients may choose a range of ways to establish a relationship and conduct business, including brokerage accounts with transaction based pricing and/or with investment advisory accounts with asset-based fee pricing.

Oppenheimer offers full-service brokerage covering a range of investment alternatives including exchange-traded and over-the-counter corporate equity and debt securities, money market instruments, exchange-traded options and futures contracts, municipal bonds, mutual funds, and unit investment trusts. Oppenheimer also offers financial and wealth planning services which include individual and corporate retirement solutions, including insurance and annuities products, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and 401(k) plans, United States stock plan services to corporate executives and businesses, education saving programs, and trust and fiduciary services to individual and corporate clients.

Oppenheimer extends credit to its customers, collateralized by securities and cash in the customer’s account, for a portion of the purchase price, and receives income from interest charged on such extensions of credit. The customer is charged for such margin financing at interest rates derived from Oppenheimer’s base rate as defined, as well as the brokers’ loan rate, and London Interbank Offer Rate (LIBOR).

In connection with both its trading and brokerage activities, Oppenheimer borrows securities to cover short sales and to complete transactions in which customers have failed to deliver securities by the required settlement date and lends securities to other brokers and dealers for similar purposes. Oppenheimer earns interest on its cash collateral provided and pays interest on the cash collateral received less a rebate earned for lending securities. In addition, to a limited extent, Oppenheimer acts as a broker-finder whereby it stands between two broker-dealers, borrowing securities from one and lending to the other for an interest rate spread (or profit). Through Freedom, Oppenheimer offers online equity investing and discount brokerage services to individual investors.

Asset Management

The Company offers a range of investment advisory services to its retail and institutional clients through its own and third party distribution channels. Clients include high-net-worth individuals and families, foundations and endowments, and trust and pension funds. Asset management capabilities include equity, fixed income, large-cap balanced and alternative investments, which are offered through vehicles, such as privately managed accounts, and retail and institutional separate accounts.

The Company provides clients with two wrap fee-based programs: Investment Advisory Services, through which clients may select among those managers approved by the Company, and Strategic Asset Review, through which clients may select among those managers approved by the Company and those outside of the Company’s approved list of managers. The Company offers an asset allocation program, Portfolio Advisory Services, in which clients select among mutual funds approved by the Company.

Oppenheimer Investment Advisors offers internal portfolio managers servicing high-net-worth individuals, retirement plans, endowments, foundations and trusts using equity and fixed income strategies. Through its Omega, Fahnestock Asset Management, and Alpha programs, Oppenheimer offers discretionary investment management wrap programs with a client-focused approach to money management servicing high-net-worth individuals and families, endowments and foundations, and institutions.

Under Oppenheimer’s Preference Program, Oppenheimer provides non-discretionary investment advisory services to high net worth individuals and families who pay an advisory fee on a quarterly basis with no commissions or additional charges for transactions. The program includes features, such as initial portfolio consultation, quarterly performance reporting and periodic consultation.

Oppenheimer Investment Management (OIM) provides fixed income management and solutions to institutional investors, including Taft-Hartley funds, public pension funds, corporate pension funds, and foundations and endowments. The Company offers high-net-worth and institutional investors the opportunity to participate in a range of non-traditional investment strategies.

Capital Markets

The investment banking department provides strategic advisory services and capital markets products to growth and middle market businesses. The investment banking business has industry coverage groups that focus on each of consumer and business services, energy and transportation, financial institutions, healthcare, industrial growth and services, media and entertainment and technology and telecom. Oppenheimer’s industry groups serve their clients by working with colleagues in each of the relevant product groups, including mergers and acquisitions, leveraged finance, equity capital markets and restructuring.

Oppenheimer advises buyers and sellers on sales, divestitures, mergers, acquisitions, tender offers, privatizations, restructurings, spin-offs and joint ventures. With experience facilitating and financing acquisitions and recapitalizations, Oppenheimer executes both buy-side and sell-side mandates.

Oppenheimer provides capital raising solutions for corporate clients through initial public offerings, follow-on offerings, equity-linked offerings, private investments in public entities, and private placements. Oppenheimer focuses on emerging companies in growth industries, including consumer and business services, energy and transportation, financial institutions, healthcare, industrial growth and services, media and entertainment, and technology and telecom.

Oppenheimer offers a range of debt financing for growing and middle market companies and financial sponsors. Oppenheimer focuses on structuring and distributing public and private debt in leveraged finance transactions, including leveraged buyouts, acquisitions, growth capital financings, recapitalizations, and Chapter 11 exit financings. Oppenheimer specializes in high yield debt and fixed and floating-rate senior and subordinated debt offerings.

Equities Capital Markets

Oppenheimer provides listed block trades, National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation (NASDAQ) market making, bulletin board trading, capital markets/origination, risk arbitrage, statistical arbitrage, special situations, pair trades, relative value, and portfolio and electronic trading. In addition, Oppenheimer offers a suite of quantitative and algorithmic trading solutions, as well as access to liquidity in order to access the global markets. Oppenheimer’s clients include domestic and international investors such as investment advisors, banks, mutual funds, insurance companies, hedge funds, and pension and profit sharing plans.

Oppenheimer provides regular research reports, notes, earnings updates and sponsors numerous research conferences where the management of covered companies can meet with investors in a group format, as well as in one-on-one meetings. Oppenheimer’s analysts use a range of quantitative and qualitative tools; integrating field analysis, channel checks and ongoing dialogue with the managements of the companies they cover in order to produce reports and studies on individual companies and industry developments. In addition to providing fundamental analysis, the Company also provides technical analysis.

Oppenheimer offers equity and index options for investors seeking to manage risk and optimize returns within the equities market. In addition, the Company focuses on serving the diverse needs of its institutional, corporate and private client base across multiple product lines, offering listed and over the counter (OTC) options.

Oppenheimer serve the convertible markets, offering expertise in the sales, trading and analysis of United States domestic and international convertible bonds, convertible preferred shares, warrants and structured products. In addition Oppenheimer offers hedged (typically long convertible bonds and short equities) positions to its clients on an integrated trade basis.

Debt Capital Markets

Oppenheimer trades non-investment grade public and private debt securities, as well as distressed securities both for its own account, as well as for institutional clients qualified to sustain the risks associated with such securities. Oppenheimer also publishes research with respect to a number of such securities.

Oppenheimer has seven fixed income research professionals covering over 150 companies and 20 fixed income sales professionals. Oppenheimer’s fixed income research supports its investment banking and sales and trading activities. Its research is designed to identify debt issues that provide a combination of high yield plus capital appreciation over the short to medium term.

Oppenheimer’s public finance department advises and raises capital for state and local governments, public agencies, private developers and other borrowers. The group has been built by developing and executing capital financing plans that meet the clients’ objectives and by maintaining national institutional and retail securities distribution capabilities. Public Finance bankers have expertise in specific areas, including local governments and municipalities, primary and secondary schools, post secondary and private schools, state and local transportation entities, health care institutions, senior-living facilities, public utility providers, and project financing.

Oppenheimer has municipal trading desks located throughout the country that serve retail financial advisors within their regions, as well as mid-tier institutional accounts. These desks serve Oppenheimer’s financial advisors in supporting their high net worth clients’ needs for taxable and non-taxable municipal securities.

Proprietary Trading

Oppenheimer takes securities positions as a market maker and/or principal to facilitate customer transactions and for investment purposes. In making markets and when trading for its own account, Oppenheimer exposes its own capital to the risk of fluctuations in market value.

Oppenheimer acts as both principal and agent in the execution of its customers' orders. Oppenheimer buys, sells and maintains an inventory of a security in order to make a market in that security. Oppenheimer acts as principal and purchases from or sells to its customers at a price which is approximately equal to the current inter-dealer market price plus or minus a mark-up or mark-down. The stocks in which Oppenheimer makes a market may also include those of issuers which are followed by Oppenheimer's research department.

Oppenheimer trades and holds positions in public and private debt securities, including non-investment grade and distressed corporate securities as well as municipal securities. There may be a limited market for some of these securities and market quotes may be available from only a small number of dealers or inter-dealer brokers. While Oppenheimer normally holds such securities for a short period of time in order to facilitate client transactions, there is a risk of loss upon default by the borrower.

Oppenheimer holds positions in its trading accounts in securities in which it does not make a market and may engage from time to time in other types of principal transactions in securities. Oppenheimer has several trading departments including: a convertible bond department, a risk arbitrage department, a corporate bond dealer department, a municipal bond department, a government/mortgage backed securities department, and a department that underwrites and trades United States government agency issues, taxable corporate bonds, preferred shares, unit investment trusts and short term debt instruments. These departments continually purchase and sell securities and make markets in order to make a profit on the inter-dealer spread or to profit from investment. Although Oppenheimer from time to time holds an inventory of securities, more typically, it seeks to match customer buy and sell orders. In addition, Oppenheimer or OAM holds positions in equity or fixed income securities in which it may not act as a dealer. The Company holds investments as general partner in a range of investment partnerships (hedge funds, fund of funds, private equity partnerships and real estate partnerships), which are offered to Oppenheimer hedge fund-qualified clients, as well as qualified clients of other broker-dealers.

OPY Credit Corp

Through OPY Credit Corp., the Company participates in loan syndications and operates as underwriting agent in leveraged financing transactions where it utilizes a warehouse facility provided by CIBC to extend financing commitments to third-party borrowers identified by the Company. Through OPY Credit Corp., the Company also trades corporate loans in the secondary market.

Oppenheimer Trust Company

Oppenheimer Trust offers a range of trust services to the clients of Oppenheimer. This includes custody services, advisory services and specialized servicing options for clients. Oppenheimer Trust has an application pending with the State of New Jersey Banking Department to become a commercial bank and with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp (FDIC) to access deposit insurance.

Evanston Financial Inc.

Evanston is an Federal Housing Administration (FHA)-approved mortgage originator and servicing company offering a range of mortgage services to developers of commercial properties, including apartments satisfying FHA criteria, elderly housing and nursing homes. Evanston also maintains a mortgage servicing portfolio in which it collects mortgage payments from mortgagees and passes these payments on to mortgage holders, charging a fee for its services.