DALLAS - Continuing an expansion that began in 2004, Dallas-based SAMCO Capital Markets Inc. announced this week that the firm has opened a new office in Boston.
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The office is located at 2 Oliver Street, Suite 601.
The firm has hired former RBC Dain Rauscher Inc. trader Matt Dagher to run the office as a managing director. Also joining SAMCO are former Bank of America traders Kurt Franke and Ralph Studley.
Franke will be a managing director for SAMCO, and Studley comes on board as a sales and trading assistant.
"This is an example of the continuing saga of growth for SAMCO," said Tex Gross, president of SAMCO. "We always look for an individual or team of individuals who have a book of business, and we provide a platform for these very experienced finance professionals who want to conduct their business with a minimum of intrusion, something that is not always available in a larger organization."
Dagher comes to SAMCO after 14 years at RBC Dain Rauscher, during which he served as managing director of East Coast trading.
"I will be trading bonds on the long end20 years and out," said Dagher, adding that he had also traded in long bonds at RBC.
Prior to joa graduateworked as a trader for Drexel Burnham Lambert and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He said that his decision to join SAMCO was based on what he sees as the overall atmosphere of the firm.
"SAMCO has a great group of people," Dagher said. "It's a nice opportunity to be part of a start-up office, to be on the ground floor. I was also looking for a change, for something more entrepreneurial, and banks today just can't offer that type of thing."
Franke, a graduate of Brown University, worked for 20 years as an institutional trader at Goldman, Sachs & Co. before taking a six-year hiatus to start an Internet company. "I rode that wild ride until it crashed in 2002," he said, adding that he then had joined Bank of America.
Franke will handle institutional sales for SAMCO.
Studley, a 2000 graduate of Westfield State University, started his career at Fidelity Investments, later joining Bank of America. He said this is a tremendous opportunity to expand his knowledge of the market.
Dagher said that at this time, SAMCO has no plans to add public finance bankers to the Boston office. However, that could change if the right person became available.
"For us, it's about getting the right person," he said.
In 2004, the firm hired bankers and traders to beef up its operations in New York, Dallas, and Memphis, Tenn. SAMCO has offices in New York, Houston, Austin, Atlanta, Oklahoma City, Chicago, and San Antonio.
