In effort to boost HY presence, Stifel hires Joseph Narens, former Citi HY trading head

Stifel has hired Joseph Narens, who spent a decade at Citi, to oversee the firm’s institutional high-yield trading across the firm’s municipal securities business line.

Narens joined Stifel Wednesday as managing director and head of High Yield Municipal Trading. He will be based in Los Angeles.

Prior to joining St. Louis-based Stifel, Narens spent 10 years at Citi, most recently as the head of High Yield Municipal Trading & Credit Analytics. He previously worked at PIMCO for five years, where he held positions in municipal credit research and portfolio management.

“With the shifting landscape in primary market volume, we are acutely focused on providing the buy-side more ideas and added liquidity,” said Head of Municipal Capital Markets Betsy Kiehn in a statement. “The opportunity to add Joe enhances our municipal platform by bringing expertise to better position our primary market high-yield pipeline and connect with customers in the secondary market.”

Citi was considered a major player and market maker in the high-yield market with a sizable team that ushered high-profile distressed deals to market and as a buyer through its trading desk that bought and sold junk muni bonds. The firm was active with restructurings by Jefferson County, Ala., Detroit, and Puerto Rico. Some market participants had said the loss of its prop trading desk could diminish liquidity in the market.

Stifel is already active in underwriting high-yield primary market issuance, Kiehn told The Bond Buyer.

The firm has been a top negotiated underwriter in the muni market through the sheer volume of issues, as well as a leading underwriter in a variety of high-yield sectors such as real estate development and charter schools, according to a press release.

In recent years, the firm’s high-yield origination platform has expanded to cover low investment grade issuers in the workforce housing, senior living, transportation, and higher education sectors, the release noted.

“We’re active every day in the market across the platform in munis, both from an origination standpoint and from a trading standpoint,” Kiehn said in an interview.

“With this focus in high yield, we have the ability” to continue to be a major player in deals, she said.

Stifel is in the top 10 underwriters year-to-date. The firm ranks as seventh, underwriting $3.878 billion in 115 issues, the most issues of any firm in the top 25, according to LSEG data.

The top deals are the Fort Worth Independent School District, Texas, with $273.645 million; the Glouster County Improvement Authority, New Jersey, with $167.325 million; and the Maricopa County Union High School District No. 210, Arizona, with $143.925 million.

Stifel ranked ninth in 2023, accounting for $16.921 billion and a 4.7% market share, up slightly from 2022 when it underwrote $16.248 billion and a 4.5% market share.

Caitlin Devitt contributed to this story.