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STAMFORD, Conn., Dec. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- MKM Partners LLC, an institutional equity research, sales and trading firm, and M.M. Dillon & Co., an investment banking and private equity partnership, today announced an exclusive agreement to form a combined venture that will focus on serving the needs of small and medium-sized growth companies and their investors. The venture, to be named MKM Dillon, will integrate M.M. Dillon's investment banking capabilities with MKM Partners' highly regarded distribution platform to provide expert capital market services to growth companies in need of capital while providing institutional investors with exciting investment opportunities. The focus will be on raising growth capital for companies, with a focus on the TMT (technology, media, telecom), Healthcare, Transportation and Energy sectors.

The venture enables MKM Dillon the ability to underwrite lead- and co-managed transactions for the growth companies with which the two organizations have longstanding relationships, as well as with new companies seeking growth capital. In preparation for the combination, both organizations have been taking advantage of the current operating environment on Wall Street to add experienced talent to their organizations in relevant sectors. The recently enacted JOBS Act has also significantly altered the landscape for growth companies seeking capital, and MKM Dillon plans to be a leader in the use of this important new legislation.

Richard R. Castellano, Chief Executive Officer of MKM, said in a statement, "I am enthusiastic about the MKM Dillon agreement, which teams top-ranked research, sales and trading professionals with leaders in investment banking to benefit growth companies and their investor bases. I worked with several of the senior Dillon professionals during my tenure at Morgan Stanley & Co. and firmly believe they have the same interests as MKM - to provide the ethical framework and the experience-based know-how needed for capital market access for growth companies. Our team has worked hard to build MKM over the last 11 years with institutional investors, as have the Dillon professionals over the same time with their clients. This alliance will leverage our respective organizations in a way that neither of us could accomplish alone. It is truly an ideal partnership for our firms, and ultimately a winning one for our growth investor clients."

Michiel McCarty, Chief Executive Officer of Dillon, commented, "The MKM Dillon alliance is the next step in building the leading investment bank for growth companies and their investors. MKM has perfected high-touch institutional investor relationships, combined with "need to read" research, in a manner unseen for years at the major firms. Dillon's success in becoming a trusted advisor to CEOs and boards in the important sectors of healthcare, technology, transportation, and energy perfectly complements the MKM investor-centric platform. The ultimate beneficiaries of this unique blend of two unbiased providers of critical advice and access to the markets will be the growth companies, which are desperately in need of capital, and their providers, the institutional investors. The JOBS Act truly changes the playing field for banks such as ours and their growth company clients in a manner unseen in my 37 years in the industry, and we look forward to being the pioneers of this new mechanism for the raising of capital."

The objective of the MKM Dillon strategic alliance is to provide a superior platform for clients, both investors and corporate, and for potential new professionals who join each group's existing talent pool. The MKM Dillon partnership environment and critical mass of the two firms, combined with the Stamford, Connecticut-based headquarters, should act as a welcome landing spot for top professionals from the financial services industry.

About MKM Partners

MKM Partners is an 11-year-old institutional equity research, sales and trading firm. Headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with offices in New York City, Boston and across the U.S., MKM provides clients with actionable and unbiased economic, technical, derivatives, event-driven and fundamental research and has trade execution abilities in U.S. and foreign equity markets and in U.S. options markets. In addition to offering timely access to its traders and analysts, MKM focuses on delivering exceptional service to institutional clients across its trading and research platforms.

About M.M. Dillon & Co.

www.mmdillon.com

www.mkmpartners.com