Andy Schaeffer suddenly found himself in a precarious situation. He'd just been hired to head the US syndicate desk at Barclays Capital, but as his appointment was about to be announced news broke that his new firm was trying to hire 40 or more debt markets bankers from CSFB, including its US syndicate head Don Devine. Not only would this have deprived him of his new post, but it would also have meant him falling victim to the same people once again.
Schaeffer had been head of US syndicate at DLJ for three years, and lost that position to Devine when CSFB bought DLJ last year.
Luckily for Schaeffer, the CSFB bankers decided to stay put. Despite having approached Barclays Capital's chief executive Bob Diamond themselves, and promising not to consider any counter offers, they did just that.
And that suddenly put Barclays Capital on the map in the US. Its small operation there had played second fiddle to Diamond's plans to build and consolidate the firm's position in the European capital markets for several years. But it now appeared that Diamond not only wanted to expand the North American operation, but was also prepared to pay to do so.