Preston Hollow Capital, an independent specialty finance company, hired finance industry professionals Curtis Erickson, Peter Bianchini and Richard Akulich to form PHC’s Capital Markets Group. All three came to PHC from Mesirow Financial.

“This is an exciting milestone in establishing Preston Hollow Capital as the leading solution provider in municipal finance,” said Jim Thompson, PHC’s chairman and CEO. “Curtis is one of the most respected professionals in the municipal capital markets, and he brings an accomplished and well-known team in Peter and Richard. When coupled with PHC’s recent increase in its permanent equity capital to $625 million, our new Capital Markets Group will enable us to provide more efficient pricing and execution for the benefit of borrowers.”

“Preston Hollow Capital has an impressive track record of providing innovative solutions to complex financial transactions and we are looking forward to adding our credit expertise to the company’s efforts,” said Erickson, who will join PHC as managing director and head of Capital Markets. “The municipal market is a diverse and often idiosyncratic marketplace where PHC’s experience, ability to execute in timely manner and the availability of long-term committed capital can be a tremendous advantage.”

Erickson will be responsible for all capital markets and secondary trading activity for the firm. As senior managing director at Mesirow Financial, he headed up the High Yield Municipal Trading and Credit group. He also has served in senior roles at JPMorgan Chase and Bear Stearns. Erickson has more than 20 years of experience in trading and investing in complex credit structures and distressed municipal debt.

Bianchini, an executive director in PHC’s Capital Markets Group, is a senior municipal strategist and will oversee credit research. Bianchini served as a managing director at Mesirow and, prior to that, as head of West Coast origination at XL Capital Assurance and as a vice president at Charles Schwab, where he was responsible for research and analytical support for municipal funds totaling approximately $21 billion under management

Akulich, a director in PHC’s Capital Markets Group, will be responsible for credit research support for the firm. He has done extensive research on various distressed municipal governments, is well known in the tobacco securitization sector and has been a featured speaker in several Standard & Poor’s U.S. Structured Credit Roundtables. Before joining PHC, Akulich served as a managing director at Mesirow and, before that, spent five years at JPMorgan Chase in the Institutional Sales and Trading and Alternative Asset Management groups.

Dallas-based Preston Hollow Capital is an independent specialty finance company with $625 million in committed equity capital.