A top BT Alex. Brown executive who heads the equity sales and trading division has resigned, sources familiar with the situation said, making him the seventh senior member of the firm to leave after the merger with Bankers Trust Corp. 18 months ago.
It is unclear when Bruce H. Brandaleone will leave the Baltimore-based company, but colleagues held a send-off party for him yesterday.
Clinton R. Daly, a managing director with the firm, will assume part of Brandaleone's responsibilities, and take over as head of U.S. institutional equity sales, sources familiar with the situation said.
Brandaleone and officials at Alex. Brown declined to comment.
Brandaleone joined the firm in 1988 as a managing director, after working at Drexel Burnham Lambert Inc., the defunct New York brokerage made famous by junk bond king Michael Milken. At Alex. Brown, Brandaleone was widely respected for expanding the firm's trading operations. More than 200 traders and institutional salesmen reported to him.
"He put the place on the map," said a source who requested anonymity. "If you look at what trading was before he came and what it is now, he has done a lot."
Brandaleone was one of the company's highest-paid executives, making $2.4 million in salary and bonus in 1996, according to the company's 1997 proxy statement.
His resignation, however, comes at an unsettling time for Alex. Brown. Deutsche Bank AG, the giant Frankfurt, Germany, banking company that is buying Bankers Trust and Alex. Brown, is bound to make changes.
Last month, seven institutional salesmen said they were going to defect to competitor First Union Capital Markets. They were persuaded to stay after intense lobbying.
"I don't think that last episode helped" Brandaleone, said a source who requested anonymity.
Institutional salesmen are key players within investment banking companies because they work closely with large clients, such as mutual funds and pension funds, and they organize "roadshows" where they market to potential investors the shares of companies that are about to go public.
Departures at Alex. Brown haven't been wholesale, but key individuals have sporadically departed ever since the Bankers Trust acquisition in 1997.
Those who have left include: A. B. "Buzzy" Krongard, chairman and chief executive; W. Gar Richlin, head of investment banking; David L. Hopkins Jr., head of asset management; Donald R. Heacock, co-head of the private client division; Robert F. Price, head of the legal department; and Beverly L. Wright, chief financial officer.
Pub Date: 3/02/99