TD Securities has closed the books on its high-yield bond distribution business. The move follows the departure of the four remaining members of TD's sales and trading unit to other firms, and its decision not to replace them. Brendan O'Halloran, managing director and group head of U.S. capital markets, characterizes the decision as a mutual one. "It's part and parcel of the fact that we'd be placing less emphasis on distribution. We were going in that direction and they saw that. They had other opportunities and they took them," he says.
O'Halloran says the firm made a "strategic decision" that its limited high-yield resources would be best deployed on the origination side, where it will continue to seek co-managing assignments. A firm official says co-managers do not distribute deals and so do not require a sales force.
The people who left TD include traders Dave Ricciardi and Jim Craco, and salesmen Adam Kraushaar and Craig Zando. Ricciardi joined Gramercy Advisors, a hedge fund, as a trader and portfolio manager. Craco went to RBC Capital Markets as a trader. Both declined further comment. Kraushaar joined BNY Capital Markets. He could not be reached. Zando will join CIBC World Markets as an executive director, says Jane Ross, managing director and head of sales at CIBC. He declined comment.