CHICAGO - Just a month after the Royal Bank of Canada decided to buy Tucker Anthony Sutro to merge it with Dain Rauscher Inc., Dain's fixed-income chief John Appel this week announced his retirement from the business.
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Appel, 52, will be succeeded as president of fixed-income capital markets for the Minneapolis-based firm by Larry Holtz, 41, director of fixed-income sales and trading. Holtz is a 17-year industry veteran who has worked at Dain Rauscher's fixed-income division since 1986.
Appel plans to retire Jan. 1 and move to Oregon, according to Dain spokesman Dan Callahan. Appel will be pursuing "personal interests," Callahan said.
"He's been planning this for a while," Callahan said. "He's been at Dain for 15 years, so he really has been looking forward to cutting back and spending more time with his family. He's not looking to get back into something as intense as this."
"John Appel is one of those rarities: a nice guy who finished first," said Irving Weiser, the firm's chairman and chief executive officer, in a company statement. "Throughout his career at Dain Rauscher, John has been called on to take over key parts of the organization at important times, and he has excelled each time. I'll miss his wise counsel and great sense of humor. More importantly, this community will miss him."
Appel began at Dain as chief financial officer. In 1997, he was chief executive officer of Dain Bosworth Inc. When Dain Bosworth combined with Rauscher Pierce Refsnes to form Dain Rauscher, Appel was CFO for the combined unit.
Appel was named president of fixed-income capital markets in 1999. In what a Minneapolis business columnist called "the revenge of the bond nerds," Appel helped implement a strategic plan that paid off this year when the division's 2001 first-half revenue rose 75% over the same period last year.
Appel was not immediately available for comment. In a company statement, Appel said that he had been fortunate to finish his career working "with an outstanding group of people. They're the ones who deserve the credit for fixed income's current success."
Holtz began at Dain Rauscher as an institutional trader on the government bond-trading desk. He currently oversees the firm's taxable fixed income and municipal sales, trading, and underwriting functions.
Joining fixed-income capital markets as director of taxable trading is Jerry Phillips, manager of fixed-income trading, institutional sales, and public finance groups at the Boston-based Tucker Anthony Sutro. Phillips is an 11-year veteran of Sutro & Co. who recently assumed responsibility for all aspects of Tucker Anthony Sutro's combined fixed income business, according to the Dain Rauscher company statement.
The merger of Tucker Anthony Sutro with Dain is expected to be completed later this year, pending regulatory approval. RBC, which paid $625 million for Tucker Anthony, has claimed that the combined entity will become a top-five municipal underwriter, with an expanded franchise in markets on the East and West coasts.
