JERSEY CITY, N.J., July 31, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Knight Capital Group, Inc. (NYSE Euronext: KCG) today announced key hires within Institutional Fixed Income Sales and Trading.

Robert Cestari has joined Knight as Managing Director and Head of Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities and Commercial Real Estate Debt Trading. David Simek has joined as Managing Director and Head of CMBS Sales.  Previously, both Mr. Cestari and Mr. Simek were at PrinceRidge Group. They report to John Welde, Managing Director and Head of Structured Products.

"As Knight continues to strategically build out our fixed income offering by adding products in demand by institutional clients, Robert and David will help spearhead our expansion into CMBS and Commercial Real Estate Debt Sales and Trading," said Al Lhota, Co-Head of Knight's Institutional Fixed Income Group. "Robert and David are seasoned professionals with years of experience in the industry. We are happy to have them on board to lead this effort."

Robert Cestari is based in the New York office, phone 212.479.7456, rcestari@knight.com
David Simek is based in the New York office, phone 212.479.7450, dsimek@knight.com

Biographies

Robert Cestari
Managing Director
Head of CMBS and Commercial Real Estate Debt Trading

Robert Cestari is a Managing Director and Head of CMBS and Commercial Real Estate Debt Trading for Knight. He joined Knight from PrinceRidge Group (Cohen & Company) where he was the Head of Commercial Real Estate Debt Trading.

Previously, Mr. Cestari spent five years on the buy side, first with Apollo Real Estate Advisors and then with their affiliate Winthrop Realty Partners. Prior to that, he was the Head of the CMBS Trading and Syndication desk at Nomura Securities.

Mr. Cestari holds a bachelor of arts from the University of Pennsylvania.

David Simek
Managing Director
Head of CMBS Sales

David Simek is a Managing Director and Head of CMBS Sales for Knight. He joined Knight from PrinceRidge Group (Cohen & Company) where he was the head of sales and trading for CMBS and CDOs.

Previously, Mr. Simek was a Managing Director, Portfolio Management and Trading at Highland Capital Management.  Prior to that, he was a Managing Director within fixed income sales for both Merrill Lynch and UBS. He began his career at Nomura Securities, where he was a Managing Director, Fixed Income Sales and Trading.

Mr. Simek holds a bachelor of science from the University of Richmond.

About Knight
Knight Capital Group (NYSE Euronext: KCG) is a global financial services firm that provides access to the capital markets across multiple asset classes to a broad network of clients, including broker-dealers, institutions and corporations. Knight is headquartered in Jersey City, N.J. with a global presence across the Americas, Europe, and the Asia Pacific regions. For further information about Knight, please visit www.knight.com.

SOURCE Knight Capital Group, Inc.

Kara Fitzsimmons, Managing Director, Media Relations, +1-201-356-1523, kfitzsimmons@knight.com or; Jonathan Mairs, Director, Corporate Communications & Investor Relations,+1- 201-356-1529, jmairs@knight.com