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Business moves under his leadership contributed to the investment firm's struggles, and his dealmaking skills will be needed to make up ground on rivals like Sandler.
October 28 -
New York bankers have indelible memories where they were and what they were doing during the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Whether working in a high rise down the street from the World Trade Center or attending a convention in the Rockies, each remembers how events of that day have shaped his life and world. Following are some of their reflections.
September 9
KBW Inc. — having lost money, prestige and staff in 2011 — is adding two respected dealmakers to its crucial bank mergers and acquisitions group.
The hires of former Merrill Lynch banker James Harasimowicz and D.A. Davidson & Co. veteran Joseph Gulash are part of a campaign at the ailing boutique investment bank to show clients and rivals that its problems have not sapped its will to invest more in a market it helped create — and once dominated.
KBW has lost ground to archrival Sandler O'Neill & Partners LP and other firms. It wants to win more bank deals, particularly in California, where mergers of small banks are picking up.
"By adding both Jim and Joe, we solidify the KBW team as one of the broadest, most experienced and creative" teams in "this important sector," KBW Chief Executive Thomas Michaud said in a press release scheduled to be issued Tuesday.
Michaud took over the company that operates as Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc. in October amid turmoil. KBW's longtime Chairman and Chief Executive John G. Duffy stepped down for health reasons as it reported a
Duffy, diagnosed with what the KBW says is a treatable form of prostate cancer, intends to stay on as something of a roving dealmaker. He is well known in finance circles, having helped assemble some of today's banking giants. He also won acclaim for rebuilding KBW after
Duffy recently moved into an office adjacent to the co-heads of depository investment banking, Scott Anderson and Joseph Berry Jr., whom he will assist with strategy and dealmaking. Their recent brainstorming helped shape the hiring decisions to be announced Tuesday.
Harasimowicz will work in New York before moving to Chicago to run that office later in the year. He and Duffy go way back: Harasimowicz began his career at KBW in the 1980s before moving on to Salomon Brothers, Citigroup Inc. and Merrill Lynch & Co., where he was co-leader of the depository investment banking group. He left Merrill in 2006 to join a specialty finance firm called Brownfields Capital. He was most recently at a hedge fund he founded called Longview Partners LLC when KBW called to see if he wanted to get back to his roots. He said yes.
Gulash will be based in San Francisco. He was one of two senior bankers D.A. Davidson recruited five years ago from the Hovde Group to bulk up west of the Rocky Mountains. He and that banker — his now-former boss, Rory McKinney — opened D.A. Davidson's Los Angeles office about two years ago. It has handled 10 deals since then, the most notable being Center Financial Corp.'s
KBW and Sandler have historically run neck and neck. But Sandler won more deals — and more consequential deals — than KBW in 2011, including Comerica Inc.'s $800 million purchase of Sterling Bancshares Inc. and BB&T Corp.'s deal to buy only the best part of BankAtlantic Bancorp. for $300 million.
Official yearend numbers are not out yet; at midyear
