Merrill Lynch has snared Justin Sendak from CIBC World Markets for its leveraged finance group. A CIBC spokeswoman confirmed the managing director's departure, but a Merrill Lynch spokeswoman could not provide comment. Sendak should bolster a group that has been attempting to regain a foothold in leveraged finance and the financial sponsor business. In the past two years, Merrill Lynch has expanded its loan capital markets and high-yield groups after downsizing the business in 2001. Merrill has since hired Bill Gates from Lehman Brothers, where he was the head of the European leveraged finance group, Steve Winograd, a managing director from Deutsche Bank and David Stith, a senior managing director from Bear Stearns (LMW, 6/11). In December Todd Kaplan was named head of the division.
