Stifel Nicolaus Adds Four Ex-Wachovia Bankers to Michigan Office

CHICAGO - St. Louis-based Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. has hired four public finance bankers from Wachovia Securities LLC to staff a new East Lansing office in a move that expands Stifel's presence in Michigan.

The new hires bring to 12 the number of bankers Stifel has hired from Wachovia in the last few months. Most of the bankers originally worked at A.G. Edwards & SonsInc., which Wachovia acquired last year.

All four bankers hired by Stifel come from A.G. Edwards' East Lansing office. At Wachovia/A.G. Edwards, the bankers made up the number one underwriting team for negotiated bonds in Michigan for 2007. Stifel last year ranked 33rd as senior manager in the state.

The hires come as Wachovia Corp. continues to struggle financially, last week reporting second-quarter losses of $8.86 billion. Most of the losses stem from bad mortgage loans, though the bank said about $128 million came from the cost of acquiring A.G. Edwards. The bank said it would eliminate more than 6,000 positions firm-wide and late last week announced longtime chief financial officer Tom Wurtz was resigning. The bank's board last month forced out chief executive officer Ken Thomson.

On the public finance side, Wachovia cut roughly 25 positions in its municipal group in mid-June. As part of those cuts, it closed its St. Louis underwriting desk, according to sources.

Stifel's previous Wachovia hires elevated its public finance standing in Missouri, and last week's announcement means an expansion of its presence in Michigan's municipal bond market. Stifel currently operates one small office in Birmingham, Mich.

Joining Stifel as senior vice president will be Brenda Voutyras, former lead banker and managing director at Wachovia/A.G. Edwards' Michigan office. Robert Regenjoins Stifel as a first vice president. Regen was vice president at A.G. Edwards since 2004. Annette Schoenheider was named vice president at Stifel. She had worked as an associate and support banker at Wachovia/A.G. Edwards since 1989.Gregory Baracywill join Stifel as an associate after serving as an analyst at Wachovia/A.G. Edwards, according to Stifel.

"These bankers are the perfect complement to Stifel Nicolaus' commitment to core public finance borrowers and bring us the opportunity to expand our K-12 expertise into Michigan," said Peter Czajkowski, Stifel's senior vice president, public finance, in a statement released by the firm last week announcing the hires.

The new hires bring to roughly 55 the number of public finance professionals at Stifel, which has expanded its presence in several markets in recent years, including Illinois last December. The firm also operates public finance offices in Denver, Edwardsville, Ill., Wichita, Kan., Baltimore, and Milwaukee.

Stifel ranks 27th so far this year in the Midwest as a senior manager. Last year it ranked 19th in the Midwest, while Wachovia ranked eighth, according to Thomson Reuters.

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