CHICAGO — Chicago-based Loop Capital Markets LLC has parted ways with Alexander Rorke, who has led its public finance banking group since his hiring in fall 2009.
Rorke had a mandate to capitalize on the firm’s steady growth in staffing with increased business and movement up in the ranks of top senior managers.
He left his position as a managing director and group head on Monday, forced out by growing dissatisfaction among Loop’s leaders over the firm’s failure to reach its goals on market share of senior managed business at a national level, sources said.
The firm’s chief executive officer and co-founder, Jim Reynolds, will take over management of the public finance banking team, Loop’s chief operating officer, Peter C.B. Bynoe, said in a statement.
In an email, Rorke said: “Loop is a fine firm. It has been a great ride and I look forward to hearing about its further success.”
In the statement, Bynoe expressed the firm’s appreciation for Rorke’ leadership over the past two years. In an interview, Bynoe declined to comment on the nature of Rorke’s departure.
Reynolds said in the statement that he is committed to the continued growth of the firm and its municipal group.
“Public finance has always been the core business of Loop Capital and the entire firm remains focused on providing city, county, and state clients with the highest levels of service in the investment banking sector,” he said.
At the time of Rorke’s hiring in the fall of 2009, Reynolds said his goal was to move the firm into the ranks of top 10 senior managers. At the time, Loop ranked 15th among senior managers, according to Thomson Reuters.
Nationally, the firm closed out 2008 ranking 20th as a senior manager. It finished 2009 ranked 17th as senior manager and was 16th in 2010. Loop ended the first half of 2011 in 14th place, increasing its share to 1.5% from 1%.
Loop ranked 14th in the Midwest in 2009 and finished 13th last year. For the first half of the year, it broke the top 10, senior managing three deals for $1.5 billion.
Reynolds also said he hoped to push the firm into the top five co-managers rankings nationally. The firm ranks fifth so far this year among co-managers in the Midwest, and fifth nationally, while it finished last year ranked first in the Midwest and seventh nationally.
Loop’s senior manager ambitions face an uphill battle given the dramatic drop in issuance this year. Some sources said it may not seem fair to pin the blame on Rorke, but it was the natural choice, given his position
“It’s a tough year for everyone, but Loop has hired a lot people and if the firm’s numbers aren’t up to expectation, then it’s the head of the group that is going to be held accountable for not getting bankers to perform,” said one local public finance banker who asked not to be named.
Loop opened new offices and doubled the ranks of its public finance bankers to 40 over 2008 and 2009, capitalizing on the turmoil among its larger competitors during the financial crisis.
The firm currently employs 150 across its various practices that include global equity trading and mergers and acquisitions. Its staff includes 40 public finance bankers, 11 sales professionals, four underwriters, and three traders.
It has additional offices in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Indiana, Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and the District of Columbia.
The firm started with six employees when Reynolds founded the firm in 1997 with his wife, Sandy Reynolds, and Albert Grace Jr. The staff is supported by a growing capital base that allows the firm to senior manage deals of more than $1 billion.
Loop hired Rorke to fill a position that was vacant since May 2009, when Warren “Bo” Daniels Jr. resigned to join Morgan Stanley after six years at Loop, during which he helped build the banking group.
Rorke left UBS in 2008 after his position as a senior advisor working with the firm’s corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, and asset management groups was eliminated. UBS moved him into that position in spring 2008 after the Swiss banking giant shuttered its municipal banking group.
In the interim, Rorke had worked on various civic and community projects and as an investor through a group that helps startup companies. He was a co-chair of Illinois’ commission on economic recovery, appointed by Gov. Pat Quinn.
Rorke worked for Salomon Brothers in New York City, moving to Dean Witter after Salomon’s exit from the public finance business in 1987, and relocated to Chicago.
He joined PaineWebber Inc. in 1993 to build the firm’s group here. UBS AG purchased PaineWebber in 2000 and eventually eliminated the brand name.
