Fidelity Capital Markets, a division of Boston-based Fidelity Investments, plans to open a municipal bond trading and underwriting office in Chicago, an official with the firm said yesterday.
Ron Loukas, a vice president and manager of the municipal bond department at Fidelity, said the firm is interviewing "high-level professionals" to manage the Chicago office. The office will handle underwriting and trading of Midwest municipal bonds.
The firm also plans to hire an institutional sales staff for the office, according to Loukas.
The Chicago office, which Loukas said is scheduled to open in September, will be the second satellite trading and underwriting office the firm has established. Fidelity opened its first office in Los Angeles about a year ago, Loukas said. It was opened first because the firm "recognized the importance of the California market," he said.
The Los Angeles office is headed by Peter Auzers and has four municipal professionals. Fidelity is in the process of hiring institutional salespersons for that office, Loukas said.
"The advantage [of opening the offices] is being closer to the markets we want to trade and underwrite," Loukas said. "We also want to penetrate the martket better with retail and institutional investors."
Loukas said, "There could be future plans" to open additional offices.
In 1992, Fidelity was senior manager on a $6.1 million issue and co-manager on 13 issues totaling $51.5 million, according to Securities Data Co. All of the issues were on the East Coast.
So far this year, the firm has been the co-manager on four issues totaling $8.5 million, Securities Data reported. Three were in Massachussets, and one was in Ohio.
