Barclays Capital is moving to re-staff its collateralized debt obligation business following the recent departure of its global head and a merging of the CDO business with the bank's credit derivatives operations. The firm is looking to hire a handful of professionals to work on structuring and distributing CDO product in New York, according to Andrew Kresse, managing director and head of structured credit product sales in New York. For starters, Barclays has hired Devansh Patel, formerly a director in CDO structuring at Credit Suisse First Boston, as a director to work in a dual role of originating and marketing CDOs to investors, Kresse adds. He says the hire shows the firm is committed to the CDO business, declining further comment.
Patel resigned earlier this month from CSFB and starts at Barclays next month. He declined to comment. Barclays is looking to add up to six more professionals, according to an insider. The bank's intentions "are definitely a sign that they are putting more resources toward the business," says one head of CDO origination at a rival firm.
The initiative comes shortly after Eileen Murphy, the former global head of CDOs at Barclays, quit earlier this year. Her departure, and the sale of two collateralized debt obligations to MJX Asset Management, a newly formed shop, led to speculation that Barclays was decreasing its focus on the CDO market--both as an originator and as a collateral manager. For her part, Murphy is now looking to land a role on the buy-side (BW, 10/27).
Since then, Barclays has merged the CDO and credit derivatives units. Kresse, who joined this spring from Banc of America Securities, is in charge of sales and Vince Balducci, managing director and head of risk finance, is heading up CDO origination.
At CSFB, Patel reported to Tom Pascale, managing director and head of the CDO origination group. He did not return a call. John Gallagher, a CSFB spokesman, confirmed Patel's departure and declined further comment.