BTIG Expands Global Fixed Income Group 

BTIG, an institutional broker dealer specializing in trading and related brokerage services, further expanded its global fixed income group with four new hires.
 
The group was launched in February of this year by Jon Bass, formerly from UBS, and John Purcell, formerly of Citigroup. It focuses on sales and trading of credit products, which will cover the full credit spectrum from investment grade to distressed debt.
 
George Chalhoub will have a dual role as a high yield salesman and desk analyst based in New York. Chalhoub spent 15 years in high yield research at Deutsche Bank, Merrill Lynch and Citigroup covering various industries, with his recent focus being on the consumer products sector.  Most recently, he ran the high yield proprietary portfolio on the high yield desk for Deutsche Bank.
 
Mychal Harrison and Todd Sycoff were hired as high yield traders in New York. Harrison joins BTIG from Barclays where he last traded high yield cash and credit default swaps.  He began his career at Goldman Sachs in high yield syndicate before transitioning into high yield trading. Sycoff comes to BTIG from Bear Stearns where he was last on the buyside as the high yield portfolio manager in the asset management division. Before that, Sycoff spent 16 years on the trading desks of Bear Stearns and Merrill Lynch as the head high yield trader. 
 
Chris LeVine will be in fixed income sales in BTIG’s New York office. He comes to BTIG from UBS where he was an executive director in the fixed income sales group focusing on investment grade and high yield credit.  Before UBS, LeVine worked at MarketAxess, Trading Edge and started his career at Morgan Stanley. 
 
Bass and Purcell, co-heads of global fixed income at the firm, expressed enthusiasm at the experience of the new hires and the positive effect they would have on the new division.
 
BTIG is planning to make additional hires in the next few weeks and to grow the fixed income group to 60 people globally this year.