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The recent departure of some of Prudential Securities Inc.'s top investment bankers signals to market players that the shop may greatly reduce, if not abandon altogether, its ambitions in the securities markets.
Late last month Paul Scura, a former vice chairman who had been at the shop since 1986, resigned, and senior managing director and head of investment banking Richard Schoninger followed within days. Scura landed at private equity firm Inter-Atlantic Capital Partners, while Schoninger, who will stay on until the end of the year, has yet to announce his future plans.
The departures are the latest notes in what has been a symphonic outburst of firings and resignations at Pru Securities. The troubles first became evident to the outside world in early October, when Hardwick Simmons, the chief executive of Prudential Securities through most of the 90s, announced his departure, followed soon by president of capital markets Vincent Pica. Later that month Prudential slashed about 425 jobs in bond trading and institutional investor underwriting, marking an end to the shop's long involvement in structured finance.
Asset finance had been one of the cornerstones of Prudential's new approach to the capital markets, or so had said Pru's top brass just last summer. Now not only is the entire business gone, but so are the pros who made the boast. To some longtime observers of Prudential, it appears as if the bank is on the verge of throwing in the towel.
"It is uncertain which direction [it's] going in," said one banker who...