Job Wrap: Thinning the Ranks at Morgan Stanley

Wall Street was awash with rumors that Morgan Stanley was preparing to ditch as many as 25 senior investment bankers last week. Chief executive John Mack suggested there would be 'some changes' in the firm's 'portfolio of people.' Those for the chop should already know who they are.

The good news is that bankers exiting Morgan Stanley could find it easy to gain alternative employment elsewhere- the investment banking sector saw plenty of hiring last week.

Ryan Beck, the securities arm of BankAtlantic Bancorp, hired two managing directors for its investment banking division. Robert H. Von Furth joined from Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance to oversee the bank's expansion in the restaurant, grocery and food sectors. James Gaydosh joined from GSP Partners, a commercial real estate firm, to lead Ryan Beck's real estate investment banking practice group.

LMC Capital, a boutique investment bank focused on the insurance industry, hired Paresh Mashru, former partner and head of financial institutions with Deloitte Corporate Finance. Mashru will join LMC's advisory board.

German bank WestLB hired Louis Iaconetti from Ambac Assurance, a New York-based financial guarantee insurance company, as managing director. Iaconetti will co-head WestLB's IBNA financial sponsors and power and utilities group with Santino Basile.

Multi Capital Group, a New York-based real estate investment banking firm, hired Lawrence Longua from Newmark Capital as senior managing director.

UBS reshuffled its mergers and acquisitions business, naming Piero Novelli and Jeffrey Raich as joint global heads of M&A. Novelli was previously European head of M&A and Raich co-head in the Americas.

Evercore Partners, a New York-based boutique advisory and investment firm, hired Brian Roberts to establish the firm's corporate advisory services in San Francisco. Roberts joins from Microsoft, where he led a corporate development group evaluating Microsoft's acquisitions and investments globally.

Dresner Investment Services, a Chicago-based middle-market investment bank, hired Ejaz Elahi as vice president, healthcare investment banking. Prior to joining DIS, Elahi was a founding partner for Life Sciences Group, a firm specializing in diagnostic imaging.

Fixed Income and FX: Deutsche Taps OECD in Paris

Deutsche Bank hired Torsten Slok, formerly of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, as director of foreign exchange research in New York.

Middle market securities firm Piper Jaffray hired Ben May from Wachovia as head of its high yield and structured products business. May, who started his career as a corporate bond trader at Drexel Burnham Lambert, went on to build the high yield sales, trading and research department at Wachovia.

Asset Management: Pequot Raids Citadel

Pequot Capital Management, the $6.5bn (€5.3bn) US hedge fund, hired three star portfolio managers, all formerly from rival Citadel Investment Group. Peter Labon, Carson Levit and Steve Pigott join the firm as managing directors. At Citadel Labon was a managing director overseeing a long/short telcommunications, media and technology product and an equity long/short product. Levit was also a managing director, focusing on diversified equity long/short products. Pigott left Citadel in 2004 to join Marin Capital Partners, a San Francisco-based hedge fund manager.

OppenheimerFunds, a New York-based asset management company with $190bn under management, hired Gavin Dobson, former president of Britannic Asset Management, as managing director of global equity strategy.

Bank of America Global Wealth & Investment Management promoted Thong Nguyen to head of private advisory services, based in Boston. Nguyen was previously a marketing executive at the bank.

Calamos Asset Management hired Phipps Moriarty, a managing director with UBS Investment Bank, as senior vice president and national sales manager. Moriarty managed the Midwest institutional distribution team at UBS.

Asset Management Advisors, the wealth management subsidiary of SunTrust Banks, hired Maria Elena Lagomasino, the chair and CEO of JP Morgan's private bank, as chief executive officer.

Calpers, the largest U.S. pension fund, named Anne Stausboll as interim chief investment officer. Stausboll replaces Mark Anson, who will leave in January to become chief executive at Hermes, the UK fund manager.

Halcyon Asset Management, a hedge fund manager with $3.5bn (€2.9bn) of assets under management, appointed Joseph Hill as a managing principal and director of client relations. Hill joins from Credit Suisse First Boston.

BlueCrest Capital Management, a London-based hedge fund manager with more than $6bn (€5.1bn) in assets under management, hired Nigel Wakefield, a senior energy trader at New York-headquartered commodity fund Valhalla Capital Advisors. Wakefield will establish a dedicated energy trading desk at BlueCrest.

Broking: Koppenol to Quit Morgan Stanley

It emerged that Robert Koppenol, head of institutional securities for the Americas at Morgan Stanley is leaving after more than 20 years with the bank. Sources close to Koppenol said he plans to start his own firm

North American Capital Markets, a Minneapolis-based broker-dealer, appointed Daniel Dwyer as director of its newly created institutional strategies unit. Dwyer was previously senior vice president at Northland Securities, a broker dealer focusing on institutional fixed income.

Refco, the scandal-ridden futures broker, named Robert Dangremond, previously managing director of turnaround and restructuring management company AlixPartners, as its interim chief executive.

Senior appointments: Smith Barney Hires Brandom

Smith Barney, the equity research arm of Citigroup, hired Stacy Brandom, a veteran of JPMorgan Chase, as chief financial officer of its global private client group. Brandom was formerly chief financial officer and senior vice president of JPMorgan's corporate sector.

Private equity: Golub Goes It Alone

Harvey Golub, chairman of early stage investment fund TH Lee Putnam Ventures, is leaving the firm with two other partners to launch his own private equity fund. Renny Smith and Ramanan Raghavendran are departing with Golub. They plan to start a fund called GRS Partners providing capital primarily to companies that utilize outsourcing technologies.

Corsair Capital, a private equity company specializing in financial services, hired Richard Thornburgh, vice chairman at Credit Suisse First Boston, as a partner. Corsair will join in February after stepping down from CSFB.