CS First Boston's foray into leveraged lending gathered more steam Thursday with the hiring of Bruce Ling a loan syndication executive at Bankers Trust New York Corp.
The move follows the Wednesday arrival at First Boston of Richard Ivers, formerly head of buyout lending at Citicorp.
Mr. Ling rounds out a group of key officials who will seek to build First Boston and its commercial banking affiliate, Credit Suisse, into a leveraged lending powerhouse.
Head of Loan Syndication
The effort is a joint venture by First Boston and Credit Suisse, both owned by Zurich-based CS Holding.
While Mr. Ling was recruited by First Boston, he actually will function as head of loan syndications for Credit Suisse. He will report to Robert O'Brien, head of leveraged lending at First Boston, and Peter Nardin, head of commercial banking at Credit Suisse.
Mr. O'Brien, hired away from Chemical Banking Corp. in June, reports to Mark Patterson. Mr. Patterson, in turn, was hired from Bankers Trust by First Boston in March to run the firm's entire leveraged finance group, which also includes First Boston's junk bond business.
Frank Byrne, the current head of loan syndications at Credit Suisse, is moving over to the treasury risk management area, Mr. Nardin said in a telephone interview Thursday.
Investment-Grade Deals
Credit Suisse is one of the top ten syndicators of commercial loans, but most of the bank's deals are for investment-grade corporations, rather than highly leveraged borrowers.
Mr. Ling specialized in syndicating buyout loans and other leveraged transactions at Bankers Trust, and before that, at Citibank.
By putting Mr. Ling in charge of Credit Suisse's entire syndication department, the bank is sending a strong signal that it and its Swiss parent are fully committed to leveraged lending business.
Bankers Trust declined to comment on Mr. Ling's departure.
