Mark Grotevant, one of the co-heads of high-yield research atCredit Suisse First Boston, and the firm's sole remaining senior telecom analyst, plans to leave the firm by year-end. His departure set off a series of rumors across Street high-yield desks, most of which centered on the possibility that Grotevant was a victim of CSFB's high-profile compensation renegotiation activities. Bennett Goodman, CSFB's global head of leveraged finance, dismisses this out of hand, saying that Grotevant is retiring from the sell-side and notes that, "He's going to have a very big bonus, and hopefully he'll go to the buyside and be a client." Sam DeRosa-Farag, global strategist, and Tom Klamka, who covers industrials, had shared high-yield research management responsibilities with Grotevant, and will stay on as co-heads, according to Cristina von Bargen, a firm spokeswoman.
Grotevant's exit follows the release of several junior analysts in his group (BW, 11/5) and the departure of another senior junk telecom analyst, Drew Hanson, to Morgan Stanley (BW, 9/10). Over the last two years, Grotevant and Hanson made three appearances as runners-up in Institutional Investor magazine's All-America Fixed-Income Research Team. One buyside telecom analyst says that though CSFB was an important player in the junk telecom market, it would make perfect sense for the firm to scrap coverage in the sector, given how poorly it has performed. Goodman says Bob Kricheff will assume high-yield telecom coverage, while maintaining his role as media analyst.