The new group will combine BTIG’s dedicated convertible sales team with its existing sales and trading professionals in its global equity and fixed income divisions to provide clients with seamless trading and execution.
The new business will be led by Robert Langer, managing director and head of convertible sales and trading, who joins BTIG along with a team of five sales and trading professionals.
Prior to joining BTIG, Mr Langer was a partner at Stanfield Capital Group, a New York-based hedge fund/asset manager, where he established and was the senior portfolio manager of a convertible/capital structure arbitrage fund.
Mr Langer started his career at Salomon Brothers in 1992, where he was a vice president and senior trader on the US convertible bond trading desk. In 1995, he joined Bankers Trust/BT Securities, where he was a managing director until 1999. From 1999-2004, he was a partner at Promethean Investment Group.
Joining Mr Langer in BTIG’s convertible securities group will be Bill Feingold, Don Pizzutello, Chris Roller, Greg Sullivan and Matthew Zucker.
Mr Feingold will join BTIG as a director and convertible trader. He came from Hillside Advisors, a Westchester-based convertible advisory firm that he founded in 2009.
Mr Pizzutello will join as a senior vice president and sales trader. Prior to BTIG, he was in convertible bond sales at McMahan Securities, where he was a senior salesman.
Mr Roller will join as a director and sales trader. Prior to BTIG, he was at Goldman Sachs, where he was a vice president in convertible sales managing a variety of global institutional relationships.
Mr Sullivan joins as a senior vice president and sales trader. He was previously with Argent Financial Group in Dubai, as a managing director and head of Middle East and North African Brokerage.
Mr Zucker joins as a director and convertible desk analyst. He joins the firm from BAM Capital, a New York-based volatility arbitrage fund, where he served as the sole credit analyst.
Steven Starker, co-founder of BTIG, said: “Our new convertible securities group is a strategic addition to our existing business lines and further enhances and diversifies our product offering. We have always run our business in a way so that we align our interests with our clients’. The expansion into convertible securities exemplifies this philosophy as our clients have demonstrated a need in this area.”
Mr Langer said: “I see an extraordinary opportunity to build a very competitive business by combining BTIG’s deep institutional client relationships across all asset classes with our highly skilled convertible sales, trading and market intelligence team. As the convertible broker/dealer community continues to consolidate, BTIG is well positioned for growth.”
