Merrill Lynch, looking to improve its league table standing in leveraged finance, is combining its capital markets and leveraged finance management. According to Corporate Financing Week, an LMW sister publication, Todd Kaplan, head of leveraged finance, will add equity and debt capital markets to his bailiwick. Jeff Edwards, who had overseen ECM and DCM, takes charge of Americas origination, which includes all industry banking groups excluding financial institutions. Andrea Orcel, new head of origination for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will retain oversight of financial institutions banking. A Merrill insider said there has been no indication of the moves resulting in shifts in the loan group.
The officials either did not return calls or referred them to a spokeswoman. "We've said publicly that we're unhappy with leveraged finance. We want to be in the top five in all high-margin businesses," said Jessica Oppenheim, spokeswoman, who confirmed the changes. Merrill currently ranks 10th in high yield bonds and 14th in leveraged loans underwriting, according to Bloomberg data. The moves further Merrill's institution-wide house cleaning that started last fall, which installed Greg Fleming as head of origination.
Gregg Seibert, who formerly held a job similar to Edwards, is moving to a senior client coverage position and will report to Fleming and Stan O'Neal, ceo, rather than just to Fleming. Edwards will also take oversight of power and energy, according to a senior official close to Merrill. Oppenheim declined to give details about Edwards' exact responsibilities.
Merrill has not been a top player in leveraged finance for several years. The departure of Tom Gahan, who ran the business in 1998 and is now head of investment banking for the Americas at Deutsche Bank, is widely seen as the beginning of the relative decline. Various attempts to fix the business since then have been unsuccessful.
Oppenheim said moving leveraged finance together with ECM and DCM will "ensure a better integration across the platform and ensure a more seamless execution of services to clients." According to published reports, Merrill also made a change at the top of its M&A business, moving Philip Yates from London to New York where he will become co-head of the business with existing chief Steve Baronoff.