Jefferies & Company hired two traders and one analyst from Citi as part of an expansion of its special situations desk.
The mid-sized brokerage hired trader Stephen Grahling to head its renamed event driven desk along with trader Michael Dorsey and analyst Ted Chen. All three are from Citi.
The incoming group will combine forces with Jefferies’ existing special situations team to form a new event driven desk. Jefferies’ special situations team includes analyst Andrew Baker and trader Brian Smith.
Grahling will be responsible for directing trading and analysis of equities involved in mergers and acquisitions, distressed and other special situations related to corporate transactions and restructurings. At Citi, Grahling launched that firm’s event driven U.S. risk arbitrage trading desk.
Jefferies expects to expand its event driven desk even further. "We anticipate that our event driven desk will continue to grow and take advantage of available talent on Wall Street," Jason Griffith, head of global equities at Jefferies, said in a statement.
Grahling has 13 years in the risk arbitrage business. He joined Citi in 2004 after a stint with Amaranth Advisers, a former hedge fund. He also headed risk arbitrage at Wachovia Securities, a business he launched, according to Jefferies.
