Société Générale in London has hired Paul Smith, director in high-yield sales at Barclays Capital in London, as head of European high-yield sales. He starts in early September and will report to Karen Gabay, head of European credit sales. SocGen now has a full complement of high-yield professionals after a hiring spree in May, with Tanneguy de Carné heading up capital markets (BW, 5/2), Aru Sivananthan responsible for trading, and Julien Raffelsbauer leading research. Gabay did not return calls by press time.
At Barclays, Smith reported to Phil Kelleher, then European head of high-yield sales, who has since been made head of European high-yield and second lien capital markets. Meanwhile, Mahtab Hanjani has taken over as head of high-yield sales. Michele Cook, spokeswoman for Barclays, said the internal moves are part of the bank's effort to align cross-product distribution more closely with leveraged finance origination. She said nobody has been hired to replace Smith.
