BGC Partners Announces New Appointments And The Launch Of An Energy Derivatives Desk

NEW YORK, Oct. 17, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- BGC Partners, Inc. (NASDAQ: BGCP) ("the Company" or "BGC"), a leading global brokerage company servicing the wholesale financial and real estate markets, today announced the launch of its Energy Derivatives desk, and the appointments of Anup Patel and Paul Paftinos, who have joined BGC to lead this initiative.

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Based in New York, BGC's Energy Derivatives desk will focus on brokering Natural Gas Options, WTI and Brent Oil Options. The launch complements BGC's existing energy practice, which includes environmental energy commodities and its Houston-based electricity, natural gas and environmental products group, and underscores BGC's increasing ambitions in this space. 

"We believe energy brokerage offers immense potential, representing a sector and an opportunity that BGC is excited about further unlocking," said Shawn McLoughlin, Director of New Business Development, BGC North America. He continued: "We are confident Anup and Paul will be valuable additions to our growing energy practice, in addition to our expanding commodities brokerage business, and we are delighted to welcome them to BGC."

Mr. Patel joins BGC from LCM Commodities, LLC, where he served as an Energy Derivatives specialist for two years. Prior to this, Mr. Patel was a portfolio manager at Energy Arbitrage Management, where he specialized in natural gas and crude oil options. Mr. Paftinos joins BGC from LCM Commodities, LLC, where he served as Vice President of Energy Derivatives for more than four years. Prior to this, he worked in Energy Sales at Lehman Brothers, and from 2004 until 2007, Mr. Paftinos worked in Energy Operations at Goldman Sachs.

"We are excited to join BGC and launch its Energy Derivatives desk," said Mr. Patel and Mr. Paftinos, Co-Heads of BGC's Energy Derivatives desk, in a joint statement: "We look forward to working with BGC management and its brokers to grow the business, in addition to playing an important strategic role in building the energy practice."

About BGC Partners, Inc.
BGC is a leading global brokerage company primarily servicing the wholesale financial and real estate markets.  Products include fixed income securities, interest rate swaps, foreign exchange, equities, equity derivatives, credit derivatives, commercial real estate, commodities, futures, and structured products. BGC also provides a wide range of services, including trade execution, broker-dealer services, clearing, processing, information, and other back-office services to a broad range of financial and non-financial institutions.  Through its BGC Trader and BGC Market Data brands, BGC offers financial technology solutions, market data, and analytics related to select financial instruments and markets.  Through the Newmark Grubb Knight Frank brand, the Company offers a wide range of commercial real estate services, including leasing and corporate advisory, investment sales and financial services, consulting, project and development management, and property and facilities management.

BGC's customers include many of the world's largest banks, broker-dealers, investment banks, trading firms, hedge funds, governments, corporations, property owners, real estate developers, and investment firms. For more information, please visit www.bgcpartners.com.  

BGC, BGC Trader, Grubb & Ellis, Grubb and Newmark are trademarks and service marks of BGC Partners, Inc. and its affiliates.  Knight Frank is a service mark of Knight Frank Limited Corp., used with permission.

Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements by BGC Partners
Statements in this press release regarding BGC's business that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" that involve risks and uncertainties. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see BGC's Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, the risk factors set forth in the Company's public filings, including the most recent Form 10-K and any updates to such risk factors contained in subsequent Form 10-Q or Form 8-K filings.

SOURCE BGC Partners, Inc.