The Mandatory Touch of a Salesman

I took a bit of a detour after my stint at CSFB. My former colleagues at PaineWebber moved on to Lehman Brothers shortly after I’d gone to CSFB, and they were magnanimous enough to bring me on board at Lehman even though I’d ditched them previously. At this point, I wanted to stay in the business but sought a different perspective than the rough and tumble of trading. As it turned out, Lehman’s U.S. convertibles analyst wanted to go the opposite route and trade. It took some doing for my once and future bosses to convince management that it made sense to have a researcher trade and a trader research, but ultimately I got their backing.

I got the Lehman research job in large part because the firm had been given a mandate to sell a multibillion-dollar mandatory convertible. The securities were not mandatory in the sense that clients were required to buy them, although I’m sure the salespeople conveyed a sense that major participation in this deal would lead to favorable allocations in future deals that might have looked more attractive.