CRT Snaps Up Greenwich Capital Pros

Rob Varnon
OF THE ADVOCATE

Stamford-based CRT Capital Group just got an infusion of new leadership and talent at the expense of RBS Securities, which lost an eight-member team focusing on U.S. Treasuries.

Formerly known as Credit Research and Trading LLC, the 20-year-old firm has hired 29 people since June 1. The move came after a group of investors, led by the former president and chief executive officer of Countrywide Capital Markets, Ron Kripalani, and the co-chief executives of the old Greenwich Capital Markets, Ben Carpenter and Jay Levine, bought controlling shares in the firm. Included in this investor group were CRT's existing management of Chris Young and Michael Vaughn.

Countrywide Capital Markets was the unit of mortgage company Countrywide Financial that packaged and sold mortgage- and asset-based securities.

"Over the past two years, the credit crisis has weakened every major Wall Street firm beyond everyone's imagination and the ability for smaller firms to attract the industry's best producers and support personnel has never been better," Carpenter, CRT's new chairman, said in a statement.

CRT, at 262 Harbor Drive, hired 16 former RBS Greenwich Capital professionals, along with seven former Countrywide veterans and six who left other firms.

The Royal Bank of Scotland PLC bought Greenwich Capital in 2000 when it acquired GCM's parent bank, National Westminster PLC. Greenwich Capital operated with a great deal of autonomy until the recent financial crisis.

That so many former Greenwich Capital pros jumped to CRT isn't as big a surprise as one would think.

With Greenwich Capital's assimilation into RBS, David "Tiger" Williams, managing member and founder of Stamford-based Williams Trading LLC, said there was going to be a shift in culture, which prompted some traders to look for other opportunities.

That culture shift happens in almost every merger and acquisition, and in the case of RBS and Greenwich Capital, CRT can exploit the change to enhance its operations and growth.

"CRT is such an interesting place," he said. "It does great research, and it has a great niche in a high-yield distressed debt."

Williams has more than 22 years experience working on Wall Street and holds an undergraduate degree from Yale University and an MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University. His own firm is on Canal Street.

"Distressed debt is an excellent place to be," he said, noting that major corporate bankruptcies, such as General Motors Corp., have created opportunities for firms with experience in this arena.

CRT said it is expanding the company's offerings in high-yield, distressed, convertible and emerging market debt and equities and also entering the mortgage- and asset-backed products markets and U.S. Treasuries.