George Friedlander Joins Court Street Group

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Ratings provide a baseline from which institutional investors can adjust, higher or lower, and make changes over time as more information becomes available, veteran muni analyst George Frieldander said.

PHOENIX – Veteran municipal market strategist George Friedlander will join Court Street Group Research, the Brooklyn-based firm announced Wednesday.

Friedlander, a highly respected analyst who left Citigroup earlier this year after being with the Wall Street firm for some 40 years, will focus on the impact of technological changes, infrastructure financing challenges, pension problems, and other issues affecting trends in the market.

He begins work Thursday.

"CSG Research is thrilled to welcome George, one of the most visible and respected strategists in the municipal finance sector," said Matt Posner, founder and partner of CSG Research. "George brings a large wellspring of knowledge regarding the functioning of the municipal bond market, and is well known both in the municipal investment community and among public policy specialists in Washington circles and in academia."

Friedlander is a member of the advisory committee to the Bloomberg Municipal Finance Conference and chair of the technical advisory committee for the Municipal Bonds for America Coalition. He is also a program committee member of the Municipal Analysts Group of New York and the National Federation of Municipal Analysts.

"George's prominence in the municipal industry cannot be overstated and we are excited to bring on such a bright mind to continue to be a thought-leader in our industry," Posner said. "With such a major turning of the tide when it comes to the White House and such an emphasis on public infrastructure and how to fund it along with likely changes to the regulatory landscape, George's background in public policy will be instrumental to keeping investor and issuer clients fully informed. We are creating a new benchmark for independent public finance research. We can't wait to put our expanded team into operation."

Friedlander joins fellow Court Street partners and credit veterans Bob Donahue and Joseph Krist, as well as co-CEOs and partners Rebecca Sobelman and Lynne Funk Posner. Matt Posner said that he believes his firm now has "the critical mass necessary to make an impact as analysts of muni market issues and public policy, and expect to produce an expanded output of publications focused on those targets."

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