BTIG, a broker dealer specializing in institutional trading and related brokerage services, has revealed that its fixed income group has hired seven senior professionals in the areas high yield/distressed, emerging markets and capital markets, as part of its ongoing expansion in the fixed income market.

BTIG has hired Chris Majak, Kerry Stein and Michael Satzberg in fixed income high yield/distressed; Tim Goodell, Diogenes Vazquez and Antonio Lopez-Torrero in fixed income emerging markets; and Peter Burton in fixed income capital markets.

Mr Majak was previously at Polygon Investments where he traded high yield and distressed credit. Prior to Polygon, he spent nine years (six in the US and three in Europe) as a high yield/ distressed salesperson at Miler Tabak, KBC and Barclays.

Mr Stein was the head of fixed income and bank debt trading at Jones Trading. Over his 25 year career, he has traded high grade, emerging market and high yield debt at Drexel Burnham, Kidder Peabody/Paine Webber and Morgan Joseph.

Mr Satzberg previously worked at Sun Capital Partners, where he was responsible for the development and management of the distressed debt and private corporate loan portfolio in the Sun Capital Securities Fund. Prior to joining Sun Capital Partners, he was a senior vice president with Jefferies & Company, responsible for trading and principal debt investments in several industry sectors.

Mr Goodell joins from Ropemaker Capital, a New York-based broker-dealer where he was co-founder and co-president. Prior to that, he spent nine years at UBS Investment Bank as head trader for Latin American structured credit and later as an executive director in structured credit sales. Earlier, he worked at Hencorp in Miami and at Merrill Lynch in various locations.

Mr Vazquez joins from ACMV Capital, a private equity/venture capital fund with investments in Argentina and Chile. He previously spent five years at Santander Investments in New York, executing both debt and equity capital markets transactions.

Mr Lopez-Torrero comes from G-O holdings, where he traded emerging markets corporate bonds. Prior to that, he was at Marathon Asset Management, where he co-managed their global emerging markets local currency portfolio. He previously spent seven years at Merrill Lynch, where he traded Latin American local currencies and fixed income derivatives.

Mr Burton joins from Emporia Capital Management and will be part of the fixed income capital markets group. While at Emporia, he was responsible for sourcing, screening, investing and managing a portfolio of middle-market leveraged loan investments. He began his career in the investment banking analyst program at JP Morgan Chase and Co. He has spent the last nine years investing, originating and managing transactions in the leveraged loan space.

The addition of these professionals will enhance BTIG’s capabilities in fixed income sales and trading. BTIG has hired more than 75 fixed income professionals since the group was launched in February of last year.

Jon Bass, co-head of global fixed income at BTIG, said: “Our clients are responding to the growing breadth of our team, finding them liquidity for their positions and giving them high quality ideas and guidance from our respected desk analysts. These hires represent our continued efforts to rapidly build-out our global fixed income capability.”