eFC Briefing: Riverfront, Tudor, NYSE

More professionals left Wachovia Securities to join ex-colleagues' fund management start-up. Tudor hired Bear Stearns' distressed-debt team to run a new credit investment strategy. NYSE Euronext hired a U.S. futures chief from Merrill Lynch, and Lehman reshuffled its senior executive ranks.

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Riverfront Investment Group, launched in April by four asset management executives who split off from Wachovia Securities, said 10 more former colleagues have joined it, five as partners. They include a chief fixed income officer, directors of various portfolio strategies, a global macro strategist, a relationship manager, and heads various support departments.

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Tudor Investment Corp. launched a credit investment strategy spearheaded by five former Bear Stearns distressed-debt executives and analysts. Gregory Hanley and Alan Mintz will establish Tudor's new investment management business focused on credit-related strategies. The two had co-led Bear's distressed debt team, and Hanley also served as co-head of high yield trading. The new team and credit-related investment management business will eventually be spun off as an independent business in which Tudor will be a strategic partner.

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NYSE Euronext hired Thomas F. Callahan, who headed the global financial futures and options business at Merrill Lynch, to lead a pending move into U.S. futures trading. Callahan will join NYSE Euronext in early July as executive vice president and head of U.S. futures.

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Lehman Brothers replaced two senior executives, including Chief Financial Officer Erin Callan who was the highest-raking woman left in a bulge-bracket institution. Herbert "Bart" McDade was named president and chief operating officer, replacing Joseph M. Gregory. McDade has headed Lehman's equities division since 2005. Ian Lowitt, who was co-chief administrative officer, steps into the CFO role that Callan occupied since last December.

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Advisory boutique Moelis & Co. expanded to Chicago, hiring Bear Stearns' Midwest investment banking head Ken Viellieu to lead its buildup and client coverage in the region.

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Fidelity Investments hired Michael E. Wilens from Thomson Reuters as head of asset management, overseeing three major investment divisions - Fidelity Management & Research, Pyramis Global Advisors and Strategic Advisers. He'll join in mid-July and also will direct investment technology and operations. At Thomson Reuters, he was executive vice president for strategy, technology and innovation since April 2008.

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Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is looking to start a real estate-focused "vulture fund" that would invest in projects valued between $100 million and $500 million, the New York Sun reports.

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Law firm Thacher Proffitt & Wood is said to be suffering an exodus of partners and associates, many from practice areas hard hit by the credit crunch. The defectors reportedly include one banking partner, the head of the bankruptcy practice, two asset management partners, a securitization partner and a commercial real estate partner, as well as partners from specialties less tied to Wall Street.