2008-07-24 15:43:02 -

- Sagent Advisors Scott D. Kaplan, 212-904-9477 or FD Thor Valdmanis, 212-850-5696 Sagent Advisors Inc., a leading independent M&A advisory firm, today announced that Abid Rizvi and Scott Moses are joining the firm's Consumer & Retail Group in New York.

Mr. Rizvi, formerly of Merrill Lynch, joins as a Managing Director and will help Sagent grow its advisory presence

with domestic and international consumer products companies, focusing particularly on the food and beverage sector. Mr. Moses, previously of J.P. Morgan Securities, joins as a Principal and will head Sagent's food & drug and specialty retail advisory practice.

Mr. Rizvi said he expects M&A activity in the consumer and retail sectors to continue despite the broader economic conditions. "Companies with strong balance sheets are going to aggressively pursue acquisitions," he said.

Mr. Moses added, "Given their disparities in performance, valuation and access to capital, retailers will continue to seek unconflicted strategic advice from experienced advisors in order to navigate the opportunities and challenges of this evolving landscape."

Mr. Rizvi served as Managing Director at Merrill Lynch & Co. in the Consumer Products Group. Before specializing in that sector, he was a senior member of Merrill Lynch's Corporate Finance Group. He has also worked at McKinsey & Company where he focused on corporate finance advisory-related assignments. He has advised on a diverse range of transactions including the sale of Otis Spunkmeyer to IAWS, Give & Go Prepared Foods' sale to OMERS Capital and Casa Herradura's sale to Brown Forman. Mr. Rizvi received his B.A. and M.B.A. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mr. Moses served as an Executive Director at J.P. Morgan's investment bank where he led the top food & drug retail M&A practice on Wall Street. He has advised clients in seven of the 25 largest retail M&A transactions since 2005, including Ahold's sale of U.S. Foodservice to KKR and CD&R, A&P's acquisition of Pathmark, Jean Coutu's sale of Brooks Eckerd to Rite Aid and GameStop's acquisition of Electronics Boutique. Before joining J.P. Morgan, Mr. Moses worked in the Consumer Group at Citigroup and the Retail Group at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Mr. Moses graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania and earned J.D. and M.B.A. degrees from Columbia University, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

"We are delighted to welcome Abid and Scott aboard as we continue to build out Sagent's industry sector coverage with world class investment bankers," said Sagent Chairman and Co-Chief Executive Officer, Joel Cohen. "Abid and Scott each have excellent reputations as trusted advisors to key decision makers within the consumer and retail sectors. They are terrific additions to our team."

ABOUT SAGENT ADVISORS INC.

Sagent Advisors Inc. is an independent, privately owned investment bank that provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, corporate financial strategy and the raising of debt and equity capital. Sagent Advisors serves a broad client base consisting of leading domestic and multinational corporations, emerging growth companies, financial sponsors and private investors, and family controlled and closely-held businesses. For more information: www.sagentadvisors.com

Abid Rizvi and Scott Moses to Join Sagent's Consumer & Retail
Group