eFC Briefing: Bear, Cantor, Goldman, Mercer
Bear Stearns M&A chief jumps, Cantor Fitzgerald and Goldman Sachs promote, and guess who made big bucks last year.
Bear Stearns mergers and acquisitions chief Louis P. Friedman jumped to hedge fund P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, where he will lead a new strategy focused on private equity and long-term public holdings. He becomes president and managing partner for the new PE effort at the $3 billion, 10-year old New York-based fund management firm. At Bear, Friedman was a vice chairman of investment banking and global chairman of M&A. He came to Bear in 2000 after building the media and communications M&A group at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette.
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Cantor Fitzgerald promoted Shawn Matthews from co-head of mortgage-backed sales and trading to executive managing director and head of debt capital markets. The broker also announced several additions to its debt capital markets team, and says it continues to seek seasoned professionals for the group. The latest appointments include:
- Four managing directors within mortgage-backed sales and trading. Suzie Demer in Los Angeles and Carl Schref in Chicago joined from WaMu Capital. John Maunsell and Duane Erickson, both in Chicago, came from RBC Capital Markets.
- Donald Chisholm, managing director in Boca Raton, Fla., focuses on high yield, distressed debt, and structured products. He joined from BB&T Capital.
- Thomas R. Elliot, managing director in Charlotte, N.C., focuses on mortgage origination coverage sales. He came from WaMu Capital.
- Lorraine Tristano and Bradley Fetzer, senior vice presidents focusing on high yield and distressed securities sales. Tristano joined from JPMorgan Securities and is based in the Shrewsbury, N.J., office. Fetzer came from Societe Generale and is based in New York.
- Nick Onesto, vice president in Los Angeles, joined Cantor from WaMu Capital.
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Goldman Sachs promoted Matthew Westerman to global head of equity capital markets, a new position. Previously, all Goldman's regional heads of equity capital markets reported to global investment banking co-head David Solomon, according to Financial News. Westerman will continue as head of the European financing group. The newspaper says the move is aimed at reinvigorating Goldman's equity underwriting business after it dropped to fourth place in last year's global league table, from the top spot in 2006.
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Mercer Investment Consulting added four professionals. Susan Dalton and Joe Libbra joined as senior consultants. Dalton, based in Los Angeles, came from Mutual of America Capital Management, while Libber joined the Chicago office from Asset Consulting Group in St. Louis. John Bothwell, hired from Boeing, is an investment associate based in Seattle. Erin Smith, sales associate in Chicago, was hired from Harris Investment Management.
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Lehman Brothers joined the list of investment banks making broad job cuts. It's laying off about 1,400 people, or 5 percent of its work force across all business lines, according to media reports. What's more, unnamed sources inside Lehman told CNBCthey expect further layoffs. Although Lehman laid off thousands in 2007 and earlier this year, the bulk of those prior cuts affected mortgage originators - a retail-oriented, relatively low-paying activity. Separately, the bank said it suspended two equity derivatives traders amid suspicion they had mis-valued some positions.
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Employment in the securities industry (including commodity contracts and investment management) swelled further in February even as the broad U.S. economy lost jobs for a second straight month. The Labor Department's seasonally adjusted figures show the industry's headcount for February hit a record 861,400, compared with a downwardly revised 859,000 in January and 856,700 in December. Since June 2007 the sector has added a net 11,900 payroll jobs.
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A retrenchment of Citigroup's residential lending businesses and related assets will result in an unspecified number of job cuts. The moves aim to reduce expenses by $200 million a year. Among other changes unveiled last week, the bank plans to fold its Citi Home Equity and Citi Residential Lending businesses into its existing CitiMortgage Inc unit, according to Reuters. The mortgage units employ about 13,000 people. But Citi says it won't stop making sub-prime and home equity loans as several other lenders have.
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Confirming bonus numbers for Wall Street top dogs reported around the turn of the year, proxy statements show Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein received $67.9 million and co-presidents Gary Cohn and Jon Winkelried got $66.9 million each. CFO David Viniar got $56.9 million. At Lehman Bros., CEO Richard Fuld received a $4.26 million cash bonus, plus restricted stock units worth $35 million. Fuld's $40 million total compensation for 2007 (including $750,000 base) rose from $27.9 million in 2006.
