Creditflux Newsletter

Boutique investment bank Storm­Harbour Securities continues to grow apace and has hired two senior salespeople to cover leveraged finance and distressed sales.

Sources say Caroline Fischer will come on board early this month from Calyon, while Paul Watkin will join from Royal Bank of Scotland towards the end of October.

Fischer and Watkin bring experience at a senior level, along with the advantage of having covered high yield/distressed assets before the leveraged buy-out cycle of recent years. At Calyon, Fischer worked alongside Stephen Elliott, who recently left the bank for Citi. Before joining Calyon in 2005, Fischer held positions at BNP Paribas and CIBC.

StormHarbour did not comment on the hires. However, it is thought the two will help the firm build its origination business as well as working on private placements.

StormHarbour was set up this year by former Citi sales and trading heads Antonio Cacorino and Fredrick Chapey. The firm is now reckoned to have around 90 people split between New York, London and Geneva – up from an estimated 50 professionals at the end of July.

Aside from StormHarbour’s cross-Atlantic balance, the firm’s most obvious difference from other recent advisory and execution set-ups is the number of senior ex-bankers who have joined. European credit is headed by Won Choi, who previously co-headed European investment grade and crossover credit sales, trading and research at Citi.

StormHarbour has also made a number of other significant hires in sales, including another ex-Calyon credit specialist, Paul Byers.