Investment Protection Principles
In May 2002, then New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer entered into an agreement Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. in which Merrill Lynch agreed to adopt certain principles in the conduct of its investment banking business. These principles became know as the "Investment Protection Principles". Many institutional investors have requested Howard Weil to indicate whether they meet the principles as outlined in the agreement.
Howard Weil Incorporated has adopted principles to eliminate the potential conflicts of interest that may arise out of a relationship between Investment Banking and Research Departments. In adopting these principles, Howard Weil Incorporated affirmatively states:
Research analysts shall not receive any compensation, incentive or bonus, for or based on any specific investment banking services transactions;
Compensation decisions regarding Analysts shall be made without input from Investment Banking personnel and are reviewed annually by a committee that reports to the Firm's Board of Directors;
All research reports and other communications, which are generally distributed or made available to customers or the public must be approved in advance by a Supervisory Analyst and the Chief Compliance Officer;
Upon termination of research coverage of a subject company, notice of this termination will be made by issuance of a final research report on the subject company using the means of dissemination equivalent to the means it ordinarily uses to provide customers with its research reports on the subject company. The report will be comparable in scope and detail to prior research reports and will include a final recommendation or rating, unless it is impracticable to produce a comparable report. In such instances where it is impracticable for HWI to provide a final recommendation or rating, at a minimum, HWI will provide the rationale for the decision to terminate coverage;
Among the disclosures required by Howard Weil in its research reports is whether Howard Weil has managed or co-managed a public offering of securities for the subject company in the past twelve (12) months, and whether Howard Weil has received compensation for investment banking services from the subject company in the past twelve (12) months or expects to receive or intends to seek compensation for investment banking services from the subject company in the next three (3) months;
These procedures are monitored by the Chief Compliance Officer to ensure compliance with the principles.
07/18/2008