ION Geophysical Corp.

Gates Capital Management makes fund investments based on cash flow generation, focusing on event-driven equities and debt. Event-driven securities include equities and debt created through spin-offs and financial restructurings. Debt investments tend to be larger issues that are more senior in the capital structure with low equity risk. The firm seeks to buy securities which trade at a significant discount to their intrinsic value and to short securities that trade well above their intrinsic value. Gates Capital invests in situations where a reason for a valuation discrepancy is identified and deemed temporary. Gates Capital utilizes risk management tools to preserve assets in volatile markets. The risk management tools employed include liquidity requirements, limits on leverage and portfolio concentration, and use of options to protect positions.

Footprints Asset Management & Research (FAMR) focuses on discovering absolute value investment opportunities. They look for opportunities that minimize price risk and that have the potential to create wealth over the long term. FAMR identifies companies that are out of favor, distressed or unpopular under current market conditions and are selling at or near their book value. They then determine if the company is being unfairly valued, which would provide a buying opportunity at a reduced price.To determine if a company is undervalued, FAMR considers a company's absolute value from a multitude of variables, including management's competency and experience, earnings potential, free cash flow, current debt, replacement cost and sector fundamentals. After assessing a company's absolute value, the firm then determines if enough disparity exists between their assessed absolute value and the current market price. This gap represents their margin of safety. FAMR's investment decisions are based on the margin of safety.

Gates Capital Management makes fund investments based on cash flow generation, focusing on event-driven equities and debt. Event-driven securities include equities and debt created through spin-offs and financial restructurings. Debt investments tend to be larger issues that are more senior in the capital structure with low equity risk. The firm seeks to buy securities which trade at a significant discount to their intrinsic value and to short securities that trade well above their intrinsic value. Gates Capital invests in situations where a reason for a valuation discrepancy is identified and deemed temporary. Gates Capital utilizes risk management tools to preserve assets in volatile markets. The risk management tools employed include liquidity requirements, limits on leverage and portfolio concentration, and use of options to protect positions.