CHARLOTTE, N.C. - First Union Corp., as part of its effort to compete with Wall Street investment banks, last week added three more Wall Street professionals to its capital markets team.
The three will form the nucleus of the bank's new high-yield fixed- income group.
In all, the bank has hired more than 70 Wall Street professionals since the capital markets team's inception in January 1994.
Benjamin T. May, formerly of Dillon Read, was named manager director of high-yield trading.
Brian M. Doyle, formerly of Citicorp, was named managing director of high-yield research. Before his stint with Citicorp, Mr. Doyle was director of high-yield research at Salomon Brothers.
And J. Reading Wilson, formerly of Kidder Peabody, joined the bank as vice president in high-yield sales.
First Union said it planned to add five to seven more professional to the high-yield group in the coming year.
"First Union is building its capital markets group as a direct result of the increasingly sophisticated financial needs of its customers," said John Evans, managing director of sales and trading at First Union Capital Markets Group.
"The yield capability is an excellent fit with our existing client base and is an important tool in enabling us to better meet their growing needs," he said.
High-yield bonds are fixed-income securities with credit ratings of BB or lower, and trade at spreads of 200 to 600 basis points over Treasury securities.
