Wedbush Morgan adds Thiel as California municipal syndicate manager

By Susanna Moon

Chicago, May 27 - Wedbush Morgan Securities said it hired Citigroup's Bradford Thiel as manager of its California municipal bond syndicate desk, part of an initiative to grow the West Coast's public finance franchise.

Thiel will manage all negotiated and competitive municipal underwriting in California, reporting to Steve Kelleher, manager of the municipal bond department.

Thiel is a 26-year veteran of the California municipal market and previously ran the West Coast municipal bond underwriting and trading effort for Citigroup. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley.

"I am at the point in my life where I really want to build something new and lasting," Thiel said in a press release. "The industry is undergoing a radical transformation from a homogenized national model, characterized by four or five insured names, to a diverse mosaic of 75,000 underlying credits, returning to its regional roots."

"In my analysis, Wedbush has the best platform on which to build an unmatched West Coast bond department," Thiel said. "I am thrilled to be part of this exciting expansion at a firm where senior management is committed to the muni business, a firm with a reputation for superior ethical conduct and strong financial backing."

Wedbush said it added 24 public finance, underwriting, sales and trading professionals over the past year, including the asset acquisition last fall from Phoenix-based Peacock Hislop.

"Adding Brad complements our strategy to fill the void created by the pullback of the Wall Street firms from Main Street's nuts and bolts infrastructure financing needs," Doug Charchenko, head of fixed-income at Wedbush, said in the release.

"With a large corporate balance sheet, no long-term debt and a retail sales network of over 350 brokers, Wedbush will continue to expand our public finance practice with the addition of experienced bankers and salespeople to our municipal division. We're not about derivatives or black box financial products. We're just about providing exceptional banking and distribution so that our public sector clients get good deals, and a good night's sleep."

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