Banc of America Brings in Two to Run Muni Syndicate Desk

Banc of America Securities LLC restocked its municipal syndicate desk last week, bringing in two industry veterans to help run the desk after former managing director Bill Laverty left earlier this year. When the municipal market returned on Nov. 26 from the abbreviated Thanksgiving holiday week, Ed Tishelman and Glen Balanoff took new seats at Banc of America, the company confirmed Monday. Tishelman was named managing director and head of the syndicate desk, while Balanoff will report to him as a principal and senior underwriter.Banc of America had been without a top underwriter for several months, after New York-based Laverty left at the end of July.The firm’s new-business statistics did not wane much during that period. The Charlotte-based bank was ninth-busiest among nationwide muni bond underwriters in 2007, having senior managed 350 deals totaling $14.2 billion, according to Thomson Financial data compiled through the end of November. This was the same position in which Banc of America finished the year in 2006 and 2005.In the competitive market, Banc of America is the eighth-busiest underwriting firm so far this year, having won 71 deals worth a combined $2 billion. It finished seventh last year with 90 deals totaling $3 billion, based on Thomson’s data.Tishelman comes to Banc of America from JPMorgan, where he was most recently an underwriter and had been in charge of the institutional trading operations at one point.He was one of several managing directors on the municipal capital markets side to leave JPMorgan this year. JPMorgan named Bill Johnson the new head of its tax-exempt capital markets group in August 2006, and has said that the wave of departures came amid a streamlining of the group in which the firm worked to merge its derivative and cash platforms.In his new job, Tishelman will report to Russell Mannis, another former JPMorgan managing director who left in April to become head of municipal trading, sales, and underwriting at Banc of America.“You tend to reach out to people that you know and that you trust,” said one market source who considers Tishelman a friend. “Ed is a talented guy and well known on the buy side for his abilities, so it’s a good pick up for them all around.”Balanoff, who has 24 years of market experience, joined Banc of America from an executive director position on the underwriting desk at Morgan Stanley. He will report to Tishelman in his new job. Mannis was not available yesterday, and Banc of America spokeswoman Louise Hennessy declined to comment on the syndicate desk’s recent transition period.“We believe these new hires demonstrate our commitment to serving our issuer and investor clients,” said public finance chief Phil Smith in a prepared statement.