Advest Inc., a regional brokerage and investment-banking subsidiary of The MONY Group, has hired Rich Musumeci, to the new position of managing director and co-head of credit trading. The hire is the first part of a plan to significantly expand the firm's fixed-income business, says Joe Blair, executive v.p. and head of Advest's capital markets group. "It's a desire to expand something that's working well," he says, adding that revenues from the business were up 60% and profits by over 100% last year.
Blair plans to add 10-15 senior fixed-income salespeople in the next few weeks. He also wants to grow the firm's credit research and syndicate groups with a particular focus on beefing up asset-backed origination. Cutbacks at other firms are creating huge talent pools to choose from, Blair says. He adds that he is talking to whole units about joining Advest and is reasonably confident that he can convince The MONY Group's board to further expand his budget if he sees the right opportunity.
Musumeci joins from R.W. Pressprich & Co., a fixed-income dealer based in New York City, where he traded crossover credits. He could not be reached. A call to Ed Rappa, chairman of R.W. Pressprich, was not returned.