Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG) hired Marc Lavine and Diane Wright as directors in its leveraged finance sales group. Both will be based in New York and report to Timothy Fischer, head of leveraged finance sales in the Americas. Fischer joined the company in January.
Lavine joined the bank on April 13 and Wright will start on June 29. In their newly created roles, they will be responsible for supporting the distribution of leveraged loans and high-yield bonds in partnership with the bank’s capital markets team.
“Despite the recent volatility afflicting leveraged finance in the wake of COVID-19, MUFG is committed to expanding its platform for our clients in this area. Leveraged finance remains vital for a range of non-investment grade companies to receive financing, and it’s a business that we believe holds long-term growth prospects for us,” John Karabelas, head of institutional investor sales in the Americas at MUFG, said. “Marc and Diane bring impeccable credentials and valuable experience that will serve our expansion through this challenging time as the market recovers and well into the future.”
Most recently, Lavine served as director of capital markets with Simon Baron Development. Previously, he was a managing director in the leveraged finance sales group at Deutsche Bank. Wright will join MUFG from RBC Capital Markets and was previously at Credit Suisse, having held the position of director in high yield, distressed and leveraged loan sales at both institutions.
“With plans to double our headcount in leveraged finance sales before the year is out, we are staying the course in maintaining our full lifecycle business model — from origination to distribution and secondary trading — toward becoming a top corporate-banking debt house in the Americas across the credit spectrum,” Bill Mansfield, head of global markets for the Americas for MUFG, said.
