NEW YORK, Sept. 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- S&P Capital IQ's LCD group, the premier source of leveraged finance market news and analysis, today announced that Marty Fridson, one of the leading authorities on the leveraged finance market, has joined its editorial team as an independent contributor of weekly and monthly high-yield commentary.

Beginning the week of September 17, Fridson, who leads the financial consulting firm FridsonVision LLC, will author a weekly online column at http://www.lcdcomps.com as well as produce a series of regular video pieces, available on Youtube (www.youtube.com/user/LCDcomps). Fridson's monthly comment will be available across the S&P Capital IQ product suite as well as the LCD's Forbes blog (http://blogs.forbes.com/spleverage/).

"We are delighted that Marty has agreed to provide our subscribers with his invaluable insights into this global and complex market," said Steve Miller, managing director and LCD team leader. "His legendary reputation and unique perspectives add another powerful dimension to our product set." 

"Marty is widely acknowledged as the leading authority on the high-yield market and has a broad following among buy-side and sell-side players," said Lou Eccleston, President of S&P Capital IQ and Chairman of S&P Dow Jones Indices. "Attracting contributors of his caliber is among the many steps we have taken this year to strengthen and secure our industry position as a leading provider of proprietary, mission-critical commentary, data and risk analytics for capital markets players."

Marty Fridson  is a highly regarded investment thinker known for his application of financial theory to high-yield bonds.  Since 1976, he has conducted research, advised and consulted for money managers and investment banks including Paine Webber, Salomon Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and BNP Paribas.  A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, he has been a guest lecturer at the business schools of many of the country's leading academic institutions, served as president of the Fixed Income Analysts Society, governor of the CFA Institute, director of the New York Society of Security Analysts, and on the editorial boards of Financial Analysts Journal, CFA Digest, Financial Management and Journal of Investment Management.

About S&P Capital IQ's LCD
LCD is the go-to provider of data, analysis, commentary and real-time news for the leveraged finance market. Nearly 1,000 institutions world-wide subscribe to LCD, including virtually all leveraged finance players – investment and commercial banks, asset managers, private equity firms and law firms – as well as a growing number of firms that play in the distressed markets, investment grade credit space and middle-market lending arena. For investment banks, LCD is a fundamental tool for winning mandates and for pricing and structuring debt instruments to clear the market.  Buy-side firms use LCD to comp new-issue deals, identify trading opportunities and benchmark default and return performance. LCD's team of experienced analysts and reporters use this data to create market perspective that is further informed by conversations with buy-side and sell-side players.

About S&P Capital IQ
S&P Capital IQ, a business line of The McGraw-Hill Companies (NYSE: MHP), is a leading provider of multi-asset class and real time data, research and analytics to institutional investors, investment and commercial banks, investment advisors and wealth managers, corporations and universities around the world. We provide a broad suite of capabilities designed to help track performance, generate alpha, and identify new trading and investment ideas, and perform risk analysis and mitigation strategies. Through leading desktop solutions such as the S&P Capital IQ, Global Credit Portal and MarketScope Advisor desktops; enterprise solutions such as S&P Capital IQ Valuations, and Compustat; and research offerings, including Leveraged Commentary & Data, Global Markets Intelligence, and company and funds research, S&P Capital IQ sharpens financial intelligence into the wisdom today's investors need. For more information visit: www.spcapitaliq.com.

SOURCE S&P Capital IQ