Global Capital Advisors™, LLC was founded in February, 2008 by Mark K. Nichols, a 30-year veteran of Bank of America. With over 13 years of experience as a Managing Director in the Private Placement Group of Banc of America Securities, LLC, Nichols helped build the largest private placement franchise in the market. Working in a firm that ranked continuously #1 in traditional private placements for more than a decade, Nichols gained broad experience in the execution and distribution of corporate, sovereign and structured names; both high grade and high yield; including  extensive experience in arranging cross-border corporate transactions out of Europe, India, Latin America and Australia.

Actively involved in the execution/distribution of these transactions, Nichols became thoroughly familiar with the alternate structures and documentation protocols for private placements and developed long-standing personal relationships with key portfolio managers at every major institutional Investor active in the market, including, as well, associated legal counsel representing both Issuers and Investors.

Since forming GCA, Nichols has led its growth in client engagements as well as product and geographic diversity. In addition to advising clients on all aspects of debt private placements, including Investor Relations, Nichols has overseen the growth of GCA's core Ratings Advisory practice, including, most recently, Transfer Pricing Advisory.

Nichols is a member in good standing of the National Investor Relations Institute ("NIRI") and an Advisory Board member of the Private Placements Industry Forum.


In March of 2009, Robert A. Weiss, Managing Director, Head of Ratings and Debt Transfer Pricing joined the firm to establish a Ratings Advisory Service. Prior to joining Global Capital Advisors, Bob was Managing Director and Head of Banc of America Securities' Ratings Advisory Group. Bob's responsibilities included advising both new and experienced debt issuers throughout the ratings process in a variety of contexts, including new debt issuance in the public, private and institutional loan sectors; merger and acquisition activity; as well as advising on the implications of shifts in corporate financial policy on an issuer's credit profile. Prior to his time at Bank of America, Bob spent 12 years at Standard & Poor's where he was Head of S&P's Global Energy Ratings Group. Prior to S&P, Bob held finance related positions at natural resource and consumer product companies.

Bob has also spear-headed the growth of GCA's Transfer Pricing Advisory practice which meets the needs of multinational companies in need of documentary support for the amount, structure and pricing of inter-company debt. Working closely with these firms and their accounting advisors, GCA produces a Transfer Pricing Report providing both an Implied Credit Profile for the issuer of the debt as well as Indicative Pricing for issuance in the high grade or high yield capital markets. This report is designed to provide independent 3rd party support via a vis national taxing authorities with respect to the sizing and pricing of issuers' inter-company debt. Bob is a Qualified “Expert Witness” in corporate rating issues and transfer pricing intercompany debt litigation. Bob is a Qualified “Expert Witness” in corporate rating issues and transfer pricing intercompany debt litigation. He has been an expert witness in Italy on ratings litigation and in Canada and Australia on transfer pricing litigation. Bob has worked with both investment and non-investment grade clients across all global industry sectors including: natural resources (energy, coal, gas pipelines, gas and electric utilities, metals and mining), chemicals, paper & forest products, shipping, technology, consumer products, business & consumer services, auto supply, retail, media & telecommunications, real estate, and project financings. As Managing Director within GCA, Bob is responsible for offering GCA clients Ratings Advisory and Debt Transfer Pricing Services with particular focus on:

• Debt Transfer Pricing for Multinational companies requiring a defensible, credible and thoroughly documented opinion on the Implied Credit profile of their stand-alone foreign borrowing subsidiary(ies).
• Companies looking to obtain a rating for the 1st time from NRSRO's or the NAIC.
• Companies looking to obtain an additional rating from a NRSRO.
• Companies preparing for the annual review with their rating agencies.
• Companies who have received an adverse NAIC rating and are seeking to appeal and/or obtain a 3rd party rating.
• Companies who need advice with respect to the stand-alone debt capacity of subsidiaries.

Greg Johnson, Managing Director, joined GCA in 2013 following a 23-year career at Bank of America where he held a variety of positions within the Capital Markets group, including Head of International Debt Capital Markets. Greg’s experience includes tens of billions of dollar equivalent transactions in multiple currencies and encompasses issuance from companies located in twenty different countries. His transactional experience includes both public and private issues and numerous “first-of-their-kind” transactions involving structural as well as market innovation. During his career, Greg dealt with numerous credit rating and restructuring issues, developing a deep appreciation of all aspects of debt issuance. He believes his “real world” corporate debt experience uniquely qualifies him to assist potential issuers of private or intercompany debt.

Greg’s ability to accurately read market appetite is evidenced by his leadership in numerous unusual transactions, including first time debt private placement issues from the countries of Chile, Greece and Spain. Groundbreaking structural issues included the first automobile lease securitization, the first international bank diversified payment right deal, and the first most favored lender private placement transaction. Such market innovation was undoubtedly an important contributor to Bank of America’s undisputed ranking as the #1 Private Placement Group for 20 consecutive years.

Greg’s experience spans high grade to high yield corporate debt as well as highly structured financings including secured, swapped, asset backed, project finance, agency guaranteed, partnership, real estate and put transactions. His experience spans virtually every industry. In addition to his involvement in public debt market underwriting, Greg authorized purchase commitments for underwritten senior and subordinated private debt and negotiated multiple repurchases and restructurings of corporate obligations. He also contributed to the development of the Model Note Agreement, provided rating agency and investor relations advice, and published in the Journal of Applied Corporate Finance. He more recently co-authored Chapter 31 “New Challenges in Defending Intercompany Debt” in the Lexis Nexis publication of The Practical Guide to US Transfer Pricing. Greg has also served as a capital markets and corporate finance expert witness in Australian and Canadian courts regarding related party debt litigation.

Prior to joining Bank of America, Greg worked as a financial consultant and as an electrical engineer. He has his MBA from the Wharton School and his BSEE from the University of Virginia.

Rob Spee has re-joined Global Capital Advisors full-time as Managing Director Asia/Pacific Region following secondment to CIMB Bank in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where he served as Co-Head of Regional & Corporate Banking. Rob brings a wealth of experience in the Asian/Pacific markets, having served for over 25 years in a variety of corporate finance positions at a number of major Australian and international banks. One of the most respected bankers in Australia, Rob is well positioned to manage GCA's expanding portfolio of services in the Asia/Pacific Region.

Prior to joining GCA in 2009, Rob was Global Head of Relationship Lending at ANZ Institutional Bank, where he led a team of 25 professionals accountable for product and portfolio management involving over A$100 billion in risk weighted assets. As leader of this team, Rob contributed to enabling ANZ to rank # 1 in relationship banking in Australia. While at ANZ, Robert also served as Chief Operating Officer for Corporate Finance as well as Global Head of Utilities, Transport, Healthcare, Telecoms and Infrastructure.

Prior to Westpac, Rob spent five years at Bank of America Australia Limited where he was a Managing Director in the Investment Banking Group, responsible for the Bank’s cross-border capital raising activities in Australia and New Zealand. During this period, he established Bank of America as the leading arranger of debt private placements in the Australian market, successfully originating and executing transactions for Santos, Futuris, Ticor, PMP, Downer Group, Consolidated Press Holdings, Ltd and Westrac.

Prior to Bank of America, Rob spent 7 years at Toronto Dominion Bank where he was a Director-Corporate Finance as well as a Member of the Board of Directors of Toronto Dominion Australia Limited. During his time at TD, Rob contributed to migrating the bank to a more agile and relevant industry based sales and marketing model.

Rob is amongst the most experienced corporate & investment bankers in Australia and we look forward to his substantially enhancing our efforts to grow our franchise in the Australian/Asian markets.

Rob holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Melbourne and a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University, Sydney.