Broker-dealer Knight Capital has hired three directors across its European capital markets team in Europe and US-based fixed-income subsidiary, Knight Libertas.
Mark Aitken joins Knight as managing director, head of capital markets in Europe, from UK banking and insurance group HBOS. During his six years at HBOS, Aitken established the firm’s corporate bonds business, which offered high-yield and debt private placement solutions to Bank of Scotland’s private equity and mid-cap clients in Europe. He has also held positions at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and Saudi International Bank.
Knight’s Capital Markets team provides capital structure advisory and transaction services, including equity and debt offerings, private placements, restricted share programs, liability management, equity buybacks and debt repurchases.
David Barcus and David Lessen both join Knight Libertas, the firm’s fixed income business, as managing directors based in Greenwich, Connecticut, US.
Barcus, who will lead the high-yield capital markets team at Knight Libertas, joins from MTN Capital Partners, where he was charged with executing leveraged acquisition transactions as a principal investor. He also spent over 16 years in various roles at the leveraged finance and high-yield operations of French investment bank BNP Paribas.
Lessen joins as head of convertibles capital markets, having previously been head of convertible bond origination at BroadpointGleacher. Lessen has also held positions at UBS Investment Bank, J.P. Morgan and Goldman Sachs.
“We continue to build out the capital markets team and overall client offering at Knight, drawing on the firm’s detailed knowledge of the debt and equity markets,” said Gary Katcher, executive vice president, head of global fixed income at Knight Capital Group. “Knight has a large sales and trading team across a broad range of products with an extensive client network comprised of leading buy-side firms. We are selectively adding individuals with deep experience raising capital for companies of all sizes.”