Jefferies Poaches Two Bankers From Rivals Ousted in Texas

(Bloomberg) -- Jefferies Financial Group is expanding its footprint in Texas, hiring two bankers from rival Wall Street firms to its municipal bond group in the state. 

The bank has hired Mark Tarpley, a former Texas school district administrator, from Citigroup Inc., according to a person familiar with the matter who asked not to be named, and also Pedro Ramos, a Denver-based banker that worked on Texas municipal deals at JPMorgan Chase & Co., according to another person familiar with his hiring who also asked not to be named.

Spokespeople for Jefferies, Citigroup and JPMorgan declined to comment.

The hires come after both Citigroup and JPMorgan saw their municipal bond business grind to a halt in Texas after the state legislature barred governments from working with companies that have restrictive gun policies in place. Citigroup, which has said for months they can comply with the legislation, in November managed their first deal since late August. JPMorgan, along with Bank of America Corp. and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have yet to resume underwriting sales in Texas. 

The moves indicate that Jefferies is looking to expand municipal bond banking teams in a rapidly growing market. Texas-based borrowers sold more than $48 billion of long-term debt so far this year, the largest market in the country after California. Its booming population and resulting infrastructure needs make it lucrative for banks that underwrite municipal debt. 

Jefferies is ranked as the sixth-largest underwriter of municipal bonds in Texas this year, up four slots as compared to their position last year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Much of that growth has come after the other banks have paused business. Jefferies climbed 10 spots to the top-ranked underwriter in Texas since Sept. 1, when the legislation went into effect.

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