Creditflux Newsletter

Welcome to Tim’s page at
keepintouch.com.

Name Timothy P Smolensky III

Role Experienced credit markets professional, currently consulting at High Tree Capital. (Well, actually helping the High Tree guys out with a couple of things in return for the use of a desk. It’s a good arrangement. Is not like they’re short of space.)

Tim’s keepintouch groups Mets fans abroad, Westfield High alumni, fixed income headhunter forum.

Tim is reading The Black Swan

Tim’s connections Tim has 220 connections. Tim has added 203 connections this week.

Tim’s career May-December 2009 head of fixed income distribution at Renovation Securities; September 2008-April 2009 business development at Taxus Capital;

2002-2008 senior credit trading/structuring/marketing roles at AVG Investment Bank; 1995-2002 associate, bond trading group; vice-president, credit at Harrison Brothers.

Tim has received one recommendation

Sam Perkinson worked for Tim at AVG Investment Bank. He says: “Tim is a passionate and driven individual who can succeed at anything. He was like a mentor to me at AVG and I’m sure he will have great success in the rest of his career.”

Tim’s status update I am thinking about my next move after leaving Renovation Securities. There are absolutely no hard feelings. Those guys have a great core business and I was able to make excellent progress building a network of clients in the credit space. I also started from scratch a capital introduction business focusing on credit funds. Unfortunately, there is just not enough business to go around all these new brokers. That has led me to have serious doubts about the agency-brokerage model, which many of you know I was so enthusiastic about earlier this year.

The big problem for the brokers is re-intermediation. We all thought the banks would be out of the market for a long time. But it is getting competitive out there. The banks may not be swallowing risk into their books like they were before, but make no mistake there are trading desks at banks that can hold a lot of inventory, and that makes life tougher for a broker without a balance sheet.

So, although I was able to generate a steady stream of extremely profitable business for Renovation, we jointly agreed that the exploitable opportunity set does not match up to our mutual ambitions.

I swore after AVG that I would never go back to the sell side. Those of you who worked with me at Taxus Capital know that I have long believed that all the intellectual capital is moving to asset managers. We came closer than almost any other credit fund at that time to raising a significant amount of capital. But the reality was that investor appetite was simply not there. From what I hear, things have not changed much since then.

So here is my dilemma. Perhaps it is time to make a strategic move back to the Street. People keep telling me banks are the only people hiring now. Even JP Morgan is trying to make top-level outside hires. When did that ever happen before? So, if you know of any openings at a tier-one firm that would suit my huge talents, please pass it on.

Tim has received one keepintouch message from Greg Spencer Hey Tim. You may remember you hired me back in 2005 at AVG. Well, you probably heard they made me head of credit after you and the rest of the guys moved on. Crazy times, hey? We should meet for coffee. I’m looking for experienced, make-it-happen business builders with your kind of contacts.