The investment bank and wealth management Oppenheimer, a division of Oppenheimer Holdings, has hired ten new people to its high yield and distressed debt team, as part of its ongoing growth in the fixed income division.

The hires align with a more difficult financial climate and an increase of the firm's restructuring and debt consulting skills.

Oppenheimer is well-suited to assist customers in navigating rising inflation and interest rates, which have reached a 13-year high, while net interest expenses have skyrocketed to levels not witnessed in 30 years.

Furthermore, these increases to the firm's Fixed Income Division come as other major financial institutions on Wall Street have reduced or closed their troubled trading desks.

Beyond its acknowledged competence in high yield and distressed bonds, the collective knowledge of the new members will further boost the firm's skills throughout a range of credit products.

Many highly leveraged corporations with lower credit ratings are involved in areas that are changing over time, especially those that borrowed a lot during the pandemic.

The institutional clients of the business, who stand to gain from Oppenheimer's improved fixed income capabilities, are faced with both opportunities and challenges as a result of this dynamic.

Peter Albano, senior managing director and global head of fixed income at Oppenheimer stated: "We're making deep investments at a time when we believe there's great opportunity to invest in sourcing, trading and distribution expertise for differentiated credit products on behalf of our institutional clients. These include bank loans, distressed bonds, reorg equity, preferred and claims."

Robert Lowenthal, President of Oppenheimer added: "By continuing to build out our team, we have positioned Oppenheimer to stand out as an industry leader in high yield and distressed debt. The steady stream of restructurings and liability management programs emerging over the next few years provides an increasing number of investment opportunities, especially as a substantial wall of global speculative-grade corporate maturities are set to come due."

The new personnel will report to Jay McDermott, head of Leveraged Finance Sales and Trading. McDermott and ten other participants of TD Cowen's Distressed Debt Team joined Oppenheimer in late-2023.

The new team members include:

• Michael Brennan, managing director, sales

• Daniela Bar-Ilan, managing director, sales

• Jeremy Goldman, managing director, sales

• John Mori, managing director, co-head of distressed

• Kirk Ruddy, managing director, sales

• Jay Sommer, managing director, co-head of special assets

• Peter Taukus, managing director, trading

• Kevin Cleary, executive director, sales

• Gail Rosenblum, executive director, special assets

• Jason Gong, Associate, research

There are currently 32 professionals on Oppenheimer's high yield desk and distressed debt team, including committed traders, salesmen, suppliers, and analysts. Over a third of the group has worked in the field for more than 15 years. Moreover, the group handles over 1,000 institutional accounts.

"Oppenheimer adds new hires to its debt team" was originally created and published by Private Banker International, a GlobalData owned brand.

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