Piper Jaffray expands with addition of Robertson Stephens convertible team

By Ronda Fears

Nashville, Tenn., Oct. 16 - U.S. Bancorp Piper Jaffray announced Wednesday the hiring of a team of convertible securities experts from the former Robertson Stephens, allowing the firm to significantly expand its current convertible securities product offering.

The team of 14 investment banking, sales and trading personnel join Piper Jaffray's existing convertible securities team in San Francisco, which has been led by Eddie O'Rourke, who will remain a senior member of the team.

The team will be co-led by Brendan Dyson, 43, managing director, and Daniel White, 40, managing director, who have worked together for the past 18 years.

Dyson will lead the origination and restructuring team, with White overseeing the sales and trading group. Twelve individuals, including managing directors Eric Alt, Ethan Fanshel, David Fullerton, Brian Sullivan, Jeffrey Winaker, as well as seven convertible securities product professionals, join Dyson and White.

All of these professionals were formerly with Robertson Stephens in San Francisco, where the team successfully built and managed a $100 million revenue convertible securities business.

The convertible securities product group will be based in San Francisco, expanding Piper Jaffray's presence in the Bay Area, which already includes investment banking, retail brokerage, fixed income sales and trading and equity research. This expansion makes San Francisco Piper Jaffray's largest presence outside Minneapolis.

"This is an important addition to our Equity Capital Markets division and our firm. The convertible team rounds out the existing product offering strength for growth company clients, while allowing us to strategically expand our presence in San Francisco," said Andrew Duff, president and chief executive officer at Piper Jaffray, in a news release.

"The team will be a strong cultural fit with Piper Jaffray, as they share a commitment to clients and integrity."

Convertible securities are an important financing vehicle for many growth company clients and represent a strategic growth area for Piper Jaffray. In 2001, $120 billion was raised in the form of convertible securities.

"The convertible securities market represents an exceptional business opportunity for Piper Jaffray. This team fits perfectly within our growth company orientation and sector focus, enabling us to immediately gain share in this area," said Thomas Schnettler, president of Piper Jaffray's Equity Capital Markets division.

"This effort further advances our market position as a leading growth company investment bank."

"We are excited to join a team with integrity, momentum and a strong commitment to serving clients," said Dyson in the news release.

"We welcome the opportunity to expand the firm's convertible product offerings to growth company clients. Convertible securities are the ideal investment for institutions and retail investors during unpredictable markets and are the financing vehicle of choice for growth companies facing volatile share-price fluctuations. We are eager to reinitiate our efforts to serve these client bases at Piper Jaffray."

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