LONDON, England, July 28, 2010 -- The Valence Group, the fast growing specialist chemicals M&A advisory boutique, today announces that Rodney Snyder will join the firm's London office as Vice President.  He will be responsible for advising the firm's clients on corporate transactions.

Rodney was previously at Merrill Lynch where he was a Vice President in the Global Industries Group.  He worked there for three years and has extensive transaction experience (encompassing over $30 billion in combined value) across a range of industries, including Metals & Mining, Chemicals, Aerospace & Defence and Industrial Machinery.  He was a member of the deal teams advising on Dow Chemical's acquisition of Rohm and Haas, Schneider Electric's acquisition of American Power Conversion and Severstal's acquisition of Esmark.  Prior to Merrill Lynch he worked at Jeffrey Williams & Co., Industry Corporate Finance Ltd and ING Barings LLC.

Rodney has a Masters in Finance from London Business School and a Master of Business Administration from Columbia Business School.

Peter Hall, Partner, said: "We are delighted that Rodney has joined us.  As a specialist chemicals M&A advisory firm we require a combination of skills and experience that is hard to come by.  Rodney is therefore a significant addition to our growing team."

About The Valence Group

The Valence Group is a specialist M&A boutique offering advisory services exclusively to companies and investors in the chemicals, materials and related sectors. The firm has developed broad and deep transactional expertise: sell-side, buy-side, joint venture, private companies, public offers, corporate carve-outs, LBOs and management buy-outs. The founders and senior members of The Valence Group have worked together for between 10 and 15 years and collectively have more than 100 years of transactional experience gleaned both at major investment banks and within chemical companies. The firm's offices are located in London, New York and Shanghai. http://www.valencegroup.com