Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA (April 2, 2008) – FOCUS LLC, a national middle market investment banking firm providing merger, acquisition, divestiture and corporate finance services, announces that Jim Pursiano has joined the San Francisco office as a Managing Director.

Jim Pursiano has 20 years of international M&A experience.   Pursiano joins FOCUS from Applied Materials where he was most recently a Managing Director in Corporate Business Development.   He joined this group in 1999 and helped build the firm’s corporate development and M&A capabilities.  He closed numerous M&A deals ranging in transaction size from $10 million to $2B+.  Pursiano’s international experience includes completed transactions in Israel, Europe, Japan, Taiwan, China, and Singapore.

Pursiano also led Applied Materials’ Integration Management Office where he was responsible for integrating all acquired companies.  In this leadership role, Pursiano developed companywide integration processes and best practices focused on delivering the required financial results.

Prior to joining Applied Materials, Pursiano spent 11 years at Chevron where he held a variety of assignments in their corporate finance and operating organizations.   A majority of his Chevron career was spent in Chevron Chemical’s International Business Development Group.  In this group, Pursiano handled the economic valuation and project financing activities for a new world-scale petrochemical project in Saudi Arabia with over $500 million placed with an international loan syndicate and the Saudi Industrial Development Fund.   Pursiano also explored M&A and other development opportunities in Venezuela, Mexico, Singapore, and other Middle Eastern Countries, and handled numerous chemical divestitures in oilfield chemicals and consumer products.

Pursiano earned an MBA in Finance from the University of Chicago. He previously earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from the University of California at Berkeley.

About FOCUS LLC

FOCUS LLC provides a range of middle market investment banking services with an emphasis on mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and corporate finance. FOCUS is headquartered in Washington, D.C. with regional offices in Atlanta, Chicago and San Francisco.  FOCUS specializes in business units with transactions or revenues in the $5-300 million range, serving entrepreneurs, corporate owners and various types of investors across a broad range of industries, throughout the U.S. and worldwide. FOCUS bankers are seasoned operating and financial executives with extensive transaction experience. Securities transactions conducted by Wm. H. Murphy & Co., Inc. registered Broker Dealer member FINRA/SIPC. For more information on FOCUS, visit www.focusbankers.com .