Dan Keating, former head of Bear, Stearns & Co.'s public finance group, has joined Samuel A. Ramirez & Co. as chief operating officer in charge of public finance, sales, and trading, the firm announced earlier this week.
With the move, Ramirez becomes the latest firm to position itself to capitalize on turmoil at Wall Street banks. Keating brings with him three other professionals from Bear Stearns, which JPMorgan acquired earlier this year.
"Danny is an old friend, I trust him, he knows the business, and he's not only a good bond person, but he's just a wonderful individual," said firm founder and president Samuel A. Ramirez.
"I was at Bear for a little over 33 years, and it was a wonderful place to work and I'm going to miss it dearly," Keating said. "But this is another great opportunity. One door opens and another one closes."
Along with Keating, John Young, Ryan Donovan, and Vincent Mazzaro will all join Ramirez as managing directors.
Young, a former president of the Municipal Bond Club of New York, will serve as a managing director in capital markets at Ramirez, after joining Bear Stearns from Citibank in 1991. Young has extensive experience as an underwriter, but also maintains relationships with clients that will be important for the banking side of the firm, Keating said.
Donovan comes to Ramirez after running municipal derivatives marketing for Bear Stearns. He will head the structured products group at Ramirez, which will focus on advising clients, such as those who might want to get out of swaps.
Mazzaro joins Ramirez after serving as a senior managing director at Bear Stearns, where he acted as what Keating described as the department's chief financial officer. A certified public accountant, Mazzaro will serve as managing director of business strategies at Ramirez.
Keating said his team is excited about joining the firm.
"It's a place that's real flexible and allows us to be as creative as our minds will let us run, without any boundaries," Keating said. "If we get a good idea, Sam says go for it."
Keating and Ramirez said the contraction at Wall Street banks will create opportunities to win senior management business and hire quality talent. The municipal market has shrunk considerably this year, with UBS Securities LLC, now UBS Financial Services Inc., shuttering its public finance unit, JPMorgan buying Bear Stearns, and Bank of America Corp. agreeing to purchase Merrill Lynch & Co.
"With the mergers and acquisitions, we're lucky to have Sam on strong footing where he can go out ... and pick up senior people that were in the past not available," Keating said. "And we all have long-term relationships with our clients. And this is a time when clients need the experienced people in the market to service them in a real difficult time to raise capital."
Keating noted wealth management and private-client services as two specific areas the firm will seek to shore up in the near future.
The firm will likely build on the footprint it already has in place. Headquartered in New York, it has branch offices in Boston, Chicago, Hartford, Conn., Houston, Los Angeles, Palm Beach, Fla., Miami, San Antonio, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
The firm could also benefit from a push by many issuers to hire more minority- and women-owned firms. In New York, for instance, Gov. David Paterson has convened a task force designed to increase the participation of minority- and woman-owned firms as underwriters.
Ramirez & Co. has worked as the senior manager on five deals with a par value of $236.7 million so far this year, according to Thomson Reuters. Last year, the firm was senior manager on seven issues with a par value of $551.8 million.
