Ron Consiglio, wireline telecom analyst at Lehman Brothers, has resigned to move to Loeb Partners, a hedge fund, according to Mike Guarnieri, head of research at Lehman. Ryan Langdon, his counterpart at ABN AMRO, was let go amid rumors of a larger reorganization there, says an official at the firm. Mark Rose, a second-teamer on the 2001 Institutional Investor All-America Fixed-Income Team at Goldman Sachs, is looking to move internally, according to analysts close to him. The job changes among sell-side high-yield wireline telecom analysts come as underwriting activity has come to a halt and secondary issues are trading at distressed levels. Langdon and Consiglio could not be reached, though Langdon, in a recent interview with BW, had questioned his future at ABN AMRO. Rose declined comment. Langdon reported to Ray Stottlemeyer, London-based global head of high-yield research. He could not be reached at press time.
The moves follow on the heels of other recent high-profile sell-side wireline departures, including two research heads: Mark Grotevant, formerly of Credit Suisse First Boston (BW, 11/19/01), and TD Securities' John Chester (11/5/01). Grotevant was perennially II-ranked, and Jonathan Savas, who recently left Merrill Lynch for Alliance Capital (2/11), was an II-runner-up last year.
Most of the remaining wireline analysts have branched out to cover other sectors. Aryeh Bourkoff, an II-ranked veteran covering the cable industry, wireline and wireless sectors for UBS Warburg, says he has added to his wireless coverage as he has dropped several wireline credits. He still covers are Allegiance Telecom, Time Warner Telecom, Williams Communications, Level 3 Communications and Metromedia Fiber.
While two high-yield research heads predict that there will be no dedicated wireline analysts left by year-end, Lehman's Guarnieri says he may replace Consiglio with an analyst to work with the distressed team. He notes that, "85-90% of the sector is distressed right now. There's still a lot of bonds; there's bank debt. If you look at traditional distressed analysts, some fully understand the sector, but a degree of specialization is required." Also, he wants to be ready when telecom comes back. "Emerging telecom will at some point be restructured, re-equitized, and rise out of the rubble," he says.