Key Bear Staff Lost in JPM Shuffle

Several key LatAm Bear Stearns employees are not joining JPMorgan after the merger. Veteran banker AJ Mediratta, former senior managing director and head of international debt capital markets at Bear, left the firm yesterday. He is expected to resurface at a hedge fund with several former Bear colleagues. Meanwhile, ex-senior managing director Carl Ross – the shop’s well known head of research – is also heard moving on. Both have strong client relationships and were instrumental in building Bear’s Caribbean niche, which JPM hopes to maintain and bolt on to its existing LatAm franchise. Elsewhere, Robert Schmieder, an MD in charge of LatAm corporate fixed income analysis – a growing area that lacks detailed coverage on the sell-side – is also leaving the firm. “It’s tough – we had a great team at Bear,” says one former staffer at the doomed US shop, adding that employment market conditions made it impossible to keep everyone together. Meanwhile, Jose Luis Martinez has joined JPM as executive director in the LatAm investment banking group. The former MD in Bear’s investment banking team has expertise in Central America and Caribbean coverage. Head of trading and senior MD Adam Groothuis – a veteran in the underserved CentAm and Caribbean secondary markets – has also joined JPM. And ex-head of EM mortgage finance John Tonelli is also heard taking a new role at the merged entity.