Hans Hanf, a first vice president in high-yield municipal trading at Prudential Securities Inc., has left the firm, a company official confirmed yesterday.
"Mr. Hanf left the firm several weeks ago," a Prudential spokeswoman told The Bond Buyer, but declined to provide additional details.
However, in an interview with Thomson Municipal News, which reported his departure yesterday, Hanf said he accepted an "attractive" financial package from Prudential, which has also offered financial packages to other senior people.
Gerald McBride, executive vice president and manager of Prudential's tax-exempt division, did not return calls seeking comment.
"This particular package made sense to me," Hanf told Thomson. "It would have been 21 years in April," he said, adding that he expects to begin working at another firm soon.
The reported buyout offers come in the wake of several years of cutbacks in the department, which some outside observers have said are part of an effort to "pare the fat."
In February 1996, Prudential cut about 30% of its municipal finance workforce, including 20 bankers, and closed several regional offices. Moreover, in September of the same year, the firm's public finance head, Arthur Spector, resigned. An additional five jobs were eliminated in the division then, market sources said at the time.
According to Securities Data Co., Prudential Securities ranked 10th among senior managers for 1997, running the books on 192 issues worth a total of $3.8 billion. Among co-managers, it ranked 9th with 659 issues worth $34 billion total.
