Bill Lerner, lead equity analyst in the U.S. Casino industry at Deutsche Bank until very recently, has decided to leave the bank in favor of starting his own firm. This is hardly the first time in recent memory that an analyst has struck out to start their own firm, and in fact Integrity wrote about some similar recent developments which occurred with investment strategy analysts just over two weeks ago. Lerner himself stated that he has both seen and been inspired to branch out by the “trend developing toward branded analysts going independent”.
Equity analyst Grant Goversten and institutional sales expert Rich Moriarty will join Lerner in their new venture which will be called Union Gaming Group. Lerner is optimistic about the new firm, saying that he sees Union Gaming Group as “an opportunity to become a source for the industry and Wall Street, without the difficulties of being associated with a big bank.”
In the wake of the departure it seems that Deutsche Bank will discontinue coverage of 17 casino and gaming companies. Deutsche informed their clientele of this fact in a note issued late Tuesday. Morgan Stanley also discontinued its coverage of the gaming and lodging industries recently citing a reallocation of resources as the driving factor. This news shows that with the sell side seemingly cutting certain industries from its coverage altogether, investors will soon have no choice but to turn to independent research to get the information they need.