Todd Sycoff, the head high-yield trader at Merrill Lynch, accepted a compensation package and resigned last Thursday morning, according to several senior high-yield officials on the buy- and sell-sides. Jessica Oppenheim, a Merrill Lynch spokeswoman, was unable to confirm Sycoff's resignation at press time. Several buy-side high-yield managers say they were told by Merrill junk pros last Thursday that Sycoff, whose principal focus was on telecom credits, has decided to take some time off. He reported to Dow Kim, the head of Merrill's fixed-income group. Sycoff could not be reached, and did not respond to a phone message left with a family member.
A veteran buy-side portfolio manager says Merrill has been trying to restructure its high-yield business ever since it lost Thomas Gahan, its head of leveraged finance and distressed debt, to Deutsche Bank in 1999, and may be using widely announced layoffs as an opportunity to do so. The portfolio manager says the firm has offered compensation packages to a number of senior high-yield executives. Oppenheim says the firm has offered compensation packages to a number of firm employees, but could not provide information about its plans for high-yield staffing levels by press time.