Donaldson Hires 2 Executives From Banks for Lending Unit

Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette Securities Corp. has hired executives from Bankers Trust New York Corp. and Bank of Nova Scotia to join its new syndicated lending team.

Harold Philipps and Eric Swanson will join the team as co-heads of leveraged loan originations, bringing the staff of the newest entrant in the loan syndication market to five, a DLJ spokeswoman confirmed.

Mr. Philipps had been the head of syndications at Bank of Nova Scotia, and Mr. Swanson was a vice president at Bankers Trust.

The investment bank recently named Steve Hickey, formerly of Goldman Sachs & Co. head of origination, sales, and trading.

Donaldson joins Morgan Stanley & Co., Merrill Lynch & Co., Lehman Brothers, and CS First Boston as investment banks who have started their own syndicated lending groups. Syndication lending is traditionally the province of commercial banks.

The investment banks have been staffing their operations with commercial bankers. Most of them have come from the New York banks that control the lion's share of the leveraged lending business, most notably Bankers Trust and Chase Manhattan Corp.

Morgan Stanley hired Bram Smith, formerly the head of syndications at Bankers Trust to lead its effort.

Despite the lack of legislative momentum to reform the Glass Steagall act - the law that separates commercial and investment banking - both commercial and investment banks have been rapidly expanding their expertise.

Bankers at both types of institutions talk of providing "one-stop shopping" to their corporate customers, offering mergers and advisory work, high-yield bonds, private placements, and bank loans under one roof.

DLJ has a well-known and successful high-yield bond underwriting team, and the loan syndication effort is seen as a way to complement that expertise.

Mr. Swanson will be based in Los Angeles.

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