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Goldman Is Said to Promote Trader Malafronte as Savarese Departs

Goldman Is Said to Promote Trader Malafronte as Savarese Departs

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. promoted Tom Malafronte in its credit-trading group after the departure of distressed-debt trader Adam Savarese, according to people with knowledge of the matter.

Malafronte was named head of U.S. leveraged-finance trading, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information isn’t public. He’ll report to Jason Brauth, who in addition to overseeing that part of the business also leads other major desks in the credit-trading group.

A spokesman for Goldman Sachs declined to comment.

Malafronte and Brauth will try to turn around a desk that’s hit a lean patch after previously delivering big gains for the firm. Goldman’s trading operations have been buffeted by senior departures in recent weeks, including Justin Gmelich, the executive whose exit was announced the week before Savarese’s.

Malafronte burnished his credentials as a star junk-bond trader in 2016 after pulling in about $300 million in revenue that year. That was good enough to rank him among the most successful traders that year across all major Wall Street banks, according to market observers and traders at rival firms.

Malafronte trades both cash bonds and credit-default swaps. Leveraged-finance trading typically includes high-yield bonds, distressed debt and leveraged loans.

--With assistance from Dan Wilchins.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sridhar Natarajan in New York at snatarajan15@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael J. Moore at mmoore55@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Daniel Taub

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