JMP Group Announces Addition of Joseph Ferra to Investment Banking Division

JMP Group Inc. (NYSE: JMP), an investment banking and alternative asset management firm, announced today that Joseph J. Ferra, Jr. has joined JMP Securities as a managing director in its investment banking division. Based in the firm’s New York office, Mr. Ferra will focus on the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and specialty pharmaceutical industries.

“Joe is a key addition to our healthcare investment banking group,” said Kent Ledbetter, JMP Securities’ director of investment banking. “He has a decade of experience at top Wall Street firms in addition to a prior career in the life sciences industry. Joe’s longstanding relationships as well as his knowledge of the healthcare capital markets and the associated M&A landscape will further enhance JMP’s already excellent life sciences franchise and will enable us to build on the significant momentum we’ve created in recent years.”

Prior to joining JMP Securities, Mr. Ferra was a senior investment banker at UBS Investment Bank, where he was one of three calling officers leading the biotechnology, pharmaceutical and specialty pharmaceutical investment banking coverage effort in the Americas. Mr. Ferra previously worked in healthcare investment banking at Leerink Swann and J.P. Morgan. Earlier, he held sales and engineering roles at Shimadzu Scientific Instruments and Thermo Electron Corporation, providing life science tools and diagnostic instruments to pharmaceutical and biotechnology clients. Mr. Ferra holds an M.B.A. from University of Michigan and a B.S. in chemistry from Purdue University.

JMP Securities is a full-service middle-market investment bank with a healthcare franchise consisting of six senior investment banking calling officers, three dedicated healthcare capital markets professionals and six senior equity research analysts covering biotechnology, specialty pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostics, and healthcare services and facilities. The firm’s healthcare investment banking group executed 48 capital raising and strategic advisory transactions with an aggregate value of $4.0 billion in 2013 and has completed 18 such transactions in 2014 to date.

About JMP Group

JMP Group Inc. is an investment banking and asset management firm that provides investment banking, sales and trading, and equity research services to corporate and institutional clients as well as alternative asset management products to institutional and high-net-worth investors. JMP Group operates through three subsidiaries: JMP Securities, Harvest Capital Strategies and JMP Credit Advisors. For more information, visit www.jmpg.com.