Merlin Securities, a broker dealer specialising in prime brokerage, says that Vincent Agosta and Michael Jablonski have joined the firm’s buy-side trading desk from Trading LLC. Based in the firm’s New York office, Agosta and Jablonski will continue to build on Merlin’s existing outsourced trading capability with their extensive trading expertise for hedge fund managers and professional investors.
The team’s clients range from emerging managers to multi-billion dollar hedge funds to private equity and fixed income institutional investors. This move follows Merlin’s recent addition of Dean Brierley, CJ Martin and Gordon Lee from Banc of America’s Prime Trading Group.
Prior to founding Trading LLC, Agosta ran the trading desk at Elijah Asset Management. Previously, he was a fixed income trader at Morgan Stanley. Jablonski was with W. Quillen Securities, a boutique Equity Research Firm. Prior to that, he was Director of Trading at Ashland Management, a USD2 billion asset management firm.
“We continue to expand on those services that directly influence our client’s ability to be more productive money managers.” says Steve Vermut, a Managing Partner at Merlin. “Vin and Mike’s experience and entrepreneurial approach make them a natural addition to Merlin’s larger trading effort.”
“This is a great opportunity for our team,” adds Agosta. “Merlin’s business model and advanced reporting technology will allow us to take our business to a whole new level.”