Dan Bass has left FBR Capital Markets to establish an investment banking platform at Performance Trust Capital Partners.
Bass will work out of his hometown of Houston, though he will be responsible for building out a nationwide investment banking team for his Chicago-based employer. Bass says he hopes to tap into an expected shakeups tied to industry cut-backs and mergers such as Stifel Financial's pending purchase of KBW.
"There may be some displaced investment bankers that have a good clientele and are looking for a home," Bass says. "Maybe we can pick up on those opportunities."
Bass is well aware of the employment shifts that take place regularly in investment banking. Before joining FBR, he was a managing director at Carson Medlin Investment Bankers, which merged into Monroe Securities in 2011.
Bass says he "liked" working at FBR but the firm was primarily focused on large capitalizations of $100 million or more. The new job will also let him focus more on his passion for community bank mergers, which is becoming a growing narrative in Texas.
"You hear about the coming wave of consolidation and there are a ton of discussions going on between bankers," he says. "Though there are not a lot of transactions yet, at some point, there will be."
Bass already has an extensive contacts in Texas, and Performance Trust also has its own list of clients through its bond business.
"As we grow our presence in Houston and throughout the South, Dan's extensive industry knowledge and proven track record of completed deals make him the perfect point man to lead our foray into these new markets," Rich Berg, Performance Trust's chief executive, said in a press release.
