Steven Winters Founder and Managing Partner
- 17 years of relevant experience
- Pioneer in the development and formation of the PIPE market; continues to create innovative structuring solutions and hedging mechanisms
- Contributing author to PIPES: A Guide to Private Investments in Public Equity; widely considered a must read for PIPE issuers and investors
- Background in diverse trading strategies including PIPES, long/short small-cap equities, convertible bond arbitrage, listed and OTC derivatives, merger and dividend arbitrage and special situations
Mr. Winters has worked in the investment banking industry since 1991 and is responsible for the operations of the management company.
Mr. Winters is widely regarded as one of the foremost PIPE investors. He was a contributing author to PIPES: A Guide to Private Investments in Public Equity; widely considered a must read for PIPE issuers and investors. He has spoken at numerous PIPE and industry conferences, is often quoted in The PIPEs Report, has been featured in Absolute Return magazine and other publications.
From 2004 through 2005, as co-founder and Managing Partner of Gemini Investment Strategies, LLC (a predecessor company to Gemini Strategies, LLC), Mr. Winters oversaw the PIPEportfolio investment decisions, trading, risk management, and hedging as he raised $100 million for the firm. From 1999 through 2003, as Managing Director for The Palladin Group L.P., Mr. Winters oversaw the PIPE portfolios, sharing responsibility for over $250 million of investors’capital. Mr. Winters also participated in evaluating, trading and hedging traditional convertible arbitrage positions. He successfully structured, negotiated andtraded numerous PIPE investments.
From 1997 through 1998, while Director of Trading for Promethean Investment Group, LLC, Mr. Winters was involved in all aspects of trading, operations and prime broker relationships for the $100 million PIPE and convertible bond arbitrage hedge fund. From 1994 through 1996, Mr. Winters was a market-maker and an equity and derivatives portfolio manager. Mr. Winters also developed equity, derivative and tax arbitrage trading and investment strategies for Fletcher Asset Management, Inc. from 1992 through 1993. Mr. Winters began his career in 1991 in the corporate finance department at Salomon Brothers Inc, where he specialized in raising capital and providing advisory services for mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Winters holds a B.S. degree in Economics from Cornell University.
Andrew Farago, JD Consultant
- 13 years of experience as a practicing attorney, equities trader and PIPE investor
- Innovator and early mover in the structuring of environmental credit market transactions including carbon credits, renewable energy certificates and emission reduction credits
Mr. Farago has 13 years of experience as a practicing attorney and equity trader. Mr. Farago is responsible for due diligence, general operations, and certain aspects of portfolio management of energy and environmental market investments.
Prior to joining Gemini, Mr. Farago was employed by RNK Capital, LLC, an investment manager focused on long/short energy equity investments and environmental market strategies from RNK’s inception in May 2004 until his departure in September 2007. Mr. Farago was instrumental in raising assets under management from $30 million to over $800 million. He performed due diligence, negotiated and managed select PIPE transactions. Mr. Farago also negotiated, drafted and managed several first-in-kind structured transactions in various domestic and international environmental credits markets including carbon (CERs, VERs, ERUs), renewable energy certificates, reclaim trading credits, and SOx/NOx. He was the chief credit officer responsible for negotiating credit on behalf of the funds with counterparties for various long term environmental transactions. Mr. Farago performed in-house document review, contract negotiation and drafting, and general business operations. Mr. Farago was the primary contactfor investor relations and was responsible for raising capital, preparing and maintaining marketing and due diligence materials.
From 2002 to 2003, Mr. Farago served as President and Securities Principal for Temper of the Times Investor Services, Inc. responsible for overseeing and expanding the general operations of the business. From 1997 to 2002, Mr. Farago was as an equity trader with Schonfeld Securities, LLC, a proprietary equities trading firm. While at Schonfeld Securities, LLC, Mr. Farago also trained, managed, and oversaw the trading activity of various groups of new and mid-level equities traders.
Mr. Farago began his career in 1994 as a practicing attorney for Prudential Securities, Inc. handling trading and investment related matters, and was subsequently at AIG, Inc. handling environmental coverage litigation matters.
Mr. Farago holds a BA in Psychology from Syracuse University anda JD from Touro Law School. He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
Peter Weisman, JD Managing Director and General Counsel
- 17 years of experience structuring, negotiating and documenting PIPE transactions
- Significant PIPE relationships and contributes to investment duediligence and analysis
Mr. Weisman has worked in the investment management industry since 2001 and previously spent 7 years as an attorney representing hedge fund clients on various corporate matters andtransactions. Mr. Weisman is responsible for Gemini’s legal matters and certain aspects of due diligence.
From 1994 through 2001, Mr. Weisman was a partner at the boutique law firm of Kleinberg, Kaplan, Wolff & Cohen, P.C. focusing on general corporate and securities matters, M&A transactions, private equity investments, equity and debt financings, real estate, employment matters, licensing and entertainment law. He has represented many hedge funds in structuring, negotiating and drafting numerous PIPEs, becoming aleader in this field having represented hundreds of millions of dollars of capital invested.
Previously, from 1992 through 1994, Mr. Weisman worked at Price Waterhouse in its Management Consulting Services Group advising Fortune 500 companies on efficiency and productivity concerns.
Mr. Weisman began his career at Latham & Watkins in 1990.
Mr. Weisman received his law degree from the New York UniversitySchool of Law. He holds degrees in accounting from The Wharton School and in economics from the University of Pennsylvania (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa). He is admitted to practice law in the State of New York.
Dr. Prashant Mehta Consultant
- 14 years of biotechnology industry and PIPE investment banking experience
- Unique healthcare investment themes and relationships within the biotechnology community
Dr. Mehta has worked in the investment banking industry since 2003 and previously spent 11 years in the biotechnology industry. Dr. Mehta is responsible for due diligence for Gemini’s life sciences investments and provides significant insight into the macro biotechnology issues affecting Gemini’s portfolio.
From 2005 through 2006, as an investment banker for Granite Financial Group, Inc., Dr. Mehta successfully filled mandates in raising capital for numerous public life science companies. From 2003 through 2004, as a Principal for TSG Partners in Carlsbad, CA, Dr. Mehta was involved with developing corporate strategies for life sciences, diagnostics, biotechnology and medical device companies. He would advise companies on their growth strategies, M&A possibilities, venture and early stage seed investments, IP evaluations and licensing arrangements.
Dr. Mehta also spent time as a Director of Business Development and Research for Imgenex Corp., a San Diego research reagent biotechnology company. He worked in the Bioinformatics Project Management group at Diversa Corp. and was a Scientist for Nanogen, Inc. and the department of Neuropharmacology at The Scripps Institute in La Jolla, CA. Dr. Mehta completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship at Duke University focusing on molecular biology of DNA replication.
Dr. Mehta holds numerous degrees including a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India; an M.Sc. in Microbiology from M.S. University of Baroda in Baroda, India; and a B.Sc. in Microbiology from Bombay University in Bombay, India.