Wachovia Securities International is launching a debt principal finance business in London and hired Tom Burke, previously at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, as a managing director to head the group. Burke will report to Tom Wickwire, managing director and head of structured products in Charlotte, N.C. Burke was on gardening leave and could not immediately be reached. Calls to Wickwire were returned by Elise Wilkinson, spokeswoman, who said the European group is a natural extension of the firm's structured products business in the U.S. He is due to start in the third quarter.
Former colleagues of Burke at Dresdner said he has not yet been replaced.