After five years on Morgan Stanley's fixed-income syndicate desk in London, would-be rock star Eden Riche is leaving. Riche was one of the guiding lights behind Morgan Stanley's steady rise to the top tier of Eurobond underwriters over the past few years, along with former department head Riccardo Pavoncelli, who three months ago moved to head the firm's media banking group.
So where does such a rising star go? To long-time Eurobond supremo Merrill Lynch, whose newly appointed London head Steve Bellotti has been instigating wide-reaching changes? To Deutsche Bank, which for three years has been hoping to overtake Merrill? Or even to his former employer, Salomon, which he left in 1994 and which has had a storming year in the Eurobond market so far?
No, proving that even in their mid-30s some bankers still relish a challenge, Riche, an avid supporter of UK football team Leeds United, has been snapped up by Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ) to become managing director and head of international investment grade debt capital markets. He joins in June and will be responsible for all origination and syndication of investment-grade products in Europe.
That's no small challenge.