New York, NY – Earlier this week, New York-based agency broker ITG, announced that it was expanding its coverage of the restaurant sector with the hiring of sell-side analyst Steve West. Mr. West previously covered this sector while working at Stifel Nicholas and A.G. Edwards.
The recent addition of Mr. West, following the summer hire of senior analysts Dale Shivnarain in medical devices and Linda Tsai in softline retail, reveals a continued commitment on the part of ITG to transform its agency brokerage business to a full-service firm with a broad-based proprietary research offering.
ITG’s efforts to build out its proprietary research offering started with the acquisition of two well-regarded independent research firms, Majestic Research in October of 2010 and Ross Smith in June, 2011.
It was also interesting to note that ITG announced that former Sanford Bernstein salesman Scott Brown joined ITG’s research sales operation. We suspect that one of the critical aspects that ITG will need to get right for their strategy of developing a proprietary research business to work will be to build out an experienced research sales group. Traditionally, agency brokerage firms that have tried to leverage their team of sales traders to “sell research” have not been terribly successful.
For more details on ITG’s recent hire, refer to the Press Release posted below.
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ITG Investment Research Hires Restaurant Analyst Steve West
NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Investment Technology Group, Inc. (NYSE:ITG), a leading agency research broker and financial technology firm, today announced the continued expansion of its investment research platform with the hiring of restaurant analyst Steve West.
Mr. West will serve as the lead analyst covering the restaurant sector. He joins ITG Investment Research from Stifel Nicholas. Prior to Stifel, Mr. West was the restaurant and food distribution analyst for A.G. Edwards. He previously served as a Surface Warfare Officer in the United States Navy and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy.
“Steve is well known and highly regarded among institutional investors and I am pleased to welcome him to the team,” said Tony Berkman, CEO of ITG Investment Research. ”His insights into the restaurant industry, coupled with analysis of our proprietary data sources, will provide valuable and differentiated research for our clients.”
ITG also announced that it is expanding its distribution capabilities with the hiring of Scott Brown on the New York research sales desk. Mr. Brown will join ITG from Sanford C. Bernstein.
ITG Investment Research provides coverage of over 300 companies in more than 20 sectors, including recent research initiations on LinkedIn (LNKD), Motorola Mobility (MMI) and Hyatt (H). ITG IR also provides macro energy and economic research and bespoke research projects. For more on ITG’s research capabilities, visit www.itginvestmentresearch.com.
About ITG
Investment Technology Group, Inc., is an independent agency research broker that partners with asset managers globally to improve performance throughout the investment process. A leader in electronic trading since launching the POSIT® crossing network in 1987, ITG takes a consultative approach in delivering the highest quality institutional liquidity, execution services, analytical tools, and proprietary research insights grounded in data. Asset managers rely on ITG’s independence, experience, and intellectual capital to help mitigate risk, improve performance, and navigate increasingly complex markets. The firm is headquartered in New York with offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region. For more information on ITG, please visit www.itg.com.
ITG Media/Investor Contact:
J.T. Farley
(212) 444-6259
corpcomm@itg.com
SOURCE Investment Technology Group, Inc.