BTIG Launches Convertible Securities Business – Hires Robert Langer to Lead Team of Five New Professionals
New York – March 8, 2010 – BTIG LLC, a broker dealer specializing in institutional trading and related brokerage services, today announced the launch of a US Convertible Securities business to complement its existing equities, derivatives, fixed income and prime brokerage groups. The Convertible Securities business will be led by Robert Langer, Managing Director and Head of Convertible Sales and Trading, who joins BTIG along with a team of five experienced sales and trading professionals.
“Our new Convertible Securities Group is a strategic addition to our existing business lines and further enhances and diversifies our product offering,” Steven Starker, Co-Founder of BTIG, said. “We have always run our business in a way so that we align our interests with our clients’. The expansion into convertible securities exemplifies this philosophy as our clients have demonstrated a need in this area.”
The new group will combine the deep experience and expertise of BTIG’s dedicated Convertible Sales team with its existing sales and trading professionals in its Global Equity and Fixed Income divisions to provide clients with seamless trading and execution.
“The team we have assembled includes some of the brightest and most experienced people in the business,” Langer said. “I see an extraordinary opportunity to build a very competitive business by combining BTIG’s deep institutional client relationships across all asset classes with our highly skilled Convertible Sales, Trading and Market Intelligence team. As the Convertible Broker/Dealer community continues to consolidate, BTIG is well positioned for growth.”
Prior to joining BTIG, Langer was a Partner at Stanfield Capital Group, a multi-billion dollar hedge fund/asset manager based in New York, where he established and was the Senior Portfolio Manager of a Convertible/Capital Structure Arbitrage Fund. He started his career at Salomon Brothers in 1992, where he was a Vice President and Senior Trader on the US Convertible Bond Trading Desk. In 1995, Langer joined Bankers Trust/BT Securities, where he was a Managing Director and ran US Convertibles Trading in New York until 1999. From 1999-2004, he was a Partner at Promethean Investment Group, a New York based hedge fund, where he established and managed its Public Convertible Arbitrage Fund. Langer graduated from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics.
Joining Langer in BTIG’s Convertible Securities Group will be Bill Feingold, Don Pizzutello, Chris Roller, Greg Sullivan and Matthew Zucker.
Feingold joins BTIG as a Director and Convertible Trader. Feingold came from Hillside Advisors, a Westchester-based convertible advisory firm that he founded in 2009. Prior to Hillside, he traded convertible bonds at Goldman Sachs, was a Senior Portfolio Manager at hedge fund FrontPoint Partners, and a Portfolio Manager at Clinton Group. Before Clinton Group, Feingold was Head of US Convertible Research at Lehman Brothers and traded convertibles and equity derivatives at PaineWebber and Credit Suisse First Boston. He began his career in corporate finance at Dillon Read. Feingold is a regular contributor to Minyanville.com and recently published his first book, The Undoing of Cowardice. Feingold has a B.A. from Yale University and a MBA from Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Pizzutello joins BTIG as a Senior Vice President and Sales Trader. Prior to BTIG, he was in Convertible Bond Sales at McMahan Securities, where he was a Senior Salesman. He began his sales career at SG Cowen, where he was Vice President of Convertible Sales. Following SG Cowen, Pizzutello was a Senior Salesman for Jefferies, where he helped build the sales desk and aided in new issue distribution, high yield sales, new issues and PIPEs. He graduated from West Virginia University with a B.A. in Architecture.
Roller joins BTIG as a Director and Sales Trader. Prior to BTIG, he was at Goldman Sachs, where he was a Vice President in Convertible Sales managing a variety of global institutional relationships. Roller has a B.S. in Finance from the University of Maryland at College Park and a MBA in Finance from Fordham University.
Sullivan joins BTIG as a Senior Vice President and Sales Trader. He was previously with Argent Financial Group in Dubai, where he was a Managing Director and Head of Middle East and North African Brokerage. He joined Argent’s sister company McMahan Securities as a Vice President of Convertible Sales in 2003. Prior to that, Sullivan was a Vice President at Lehman Brothers in the Convertible Bond department. During his tenure there, he was directly involved in the sales and marketing of US, European and Asian securities. Sullivan is a graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University and holds a B.A. in History.
Zucker joins BTIG as a Director and Convertible Desk Analyst. He joins the firm from BAM Capital, a New York-based volatility arbitrage fund, where he served as the sole credit analyst. Prior to joining BAM Capital in April 2008, Zucker was with Quattro Global Capital LLC, a New York-based convertible arbitrage fund. He was the credit/ convertible analyst focusing on the telecommunications, media, technology, gaming, lodging, leisure, airlines and defense sectors. Earlier in his career, Zucker was a high yield telecommunications analyst at BNP Paribas and an associate in the firm’s high yield origination and capital markets group. Zucker graduated with a B.A. from the University of Maryland.
BTIG has taken significant steps recently to continue to build its global franchise, including hiring additional senior professionals in its London, Hong Kong and Australian offices, opening an office in Singapore, launching an equity research group, and expanding its fixed income team in the US Additionally, BTIG has expanded its entire product offering to all 10 of its domestic offices. The firm is built around a broad and experienced group of professionals who are leaders and experts in their respective fields.
About BTIG
BTIG LLC is a premier institutional brokerage and fund services company. Founded in 2002, BTIG, including through its affiliates, employs over 375 professionals around the world. BTIG serves customers from all over the world and offers services from five divisions: Equity Trading, Fixed Income, Prime Brokerage, Outsource Trading and Direct Market Access. BTIG has offices in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Greenwich, Red Bank, Aspen and Orinda. The firm also has affiliates in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.
BTIG LLC is a member of FINRA and SIPC
BTIG Australia Limited ACN 128 554 601 is a member of ASIC and ASX
BTIG Hong Kong Limited, Exchange Participant of SEHK, licensed and regulated by the SFC
BTIG Ltd is a member of the LSE and is authorized and regulated by the FSA
BTIG Singapore Pte Ltd is registered and licensed with MAS
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