New York City investment bank CastleOak Securities LP has expanded its municipal sales and trading team with the addition of three industry veterans.
James Heald, Michael Lorenz, and Christine Guest join CastleOak as managing directors and will focus on strengthening CastleOak's municipal distribution platform across the firm's regional offices.
The firm said that expansion of the municipal and sales business has been a key focus.
"We welcome these well-regarded, highly complementary individuals to our team, and are confident they will accelerate the growth of our full-service distribution platform and strengthen our municipal coverage," said David Jones, president and chief executive officer of CastleOak. "Their deep knowledge, experience and relationships will add tremendous value to our clients and reinforces our long-term commitment to growing our franchise."
CastleOak's muni finance unit offers underwriting, fixed-rate products, variable-rate securities and financial advisory services. The firm works in both the primary and secondary markets. CastleOak has participated in more than 850 municipal underwritings totaling over $355 billion in principal amount, according to the firm's website.
Heald and Lorenz will work in the firm's Chicago office focusing on municipal bond sales. Both are joining the firm from Cabrera Capital Markets.
Heald was a senior vice president, focused on tax-exempt institutional sales. Prior to that, he held senior positions at Robert W. Baird & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co.
Lorenz worked at Cabrera Capital Markets as a vice president covering institutional sales. He previously worked at Lehman Brothers, the Public Building Commission of Chicago, Ashton Partners, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Guest will work in the firm's Cleveland office, also focusing on municipal bond sales. She was previously a senior vice president at Cabrera Capital Markets, where she covered municipal client accounts.
Before joining Cabrera, Guest worked at KeyBanc Capital Markets and McDonald & Co. Investments.
