Mr. Shafir: My coverage is actually focused in the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic. I share those geographies with my colleague, Matt Kelley. We just tend to split the universe, with one of us being the lead on any number of names. I also have a pretty big focus in the demutualization space, companies that are partially public or going through that process from a mutual bank to a public institution, whether partially public or fully public.
TWST: Are you seeing a lot of activity in that space?
Mr. Shafir: Yes. In fact, as of late, that activity has really picked up due to a couple of different considerations. One, certainly the regulatory reform and all the uncertainty around what is going to happen with the Office of Thrift Supervision and how that's going to play out has definitely added a level of activity. Companies are trying to figure out what that is going to look like under a potentially new regulator, and which provisions, specifically pertaining to partially public companies, will remain in place. So I think that has certainly added to the number of companies that are going through the process of becoming fully public right now. Just to give you an idea, we currently have 10 companies in the pipeline going through that process.
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