Bernstein Said to Hire Zanardo for Bank Research (Update1)
March 10, 2010, 8:41 AM EST(Adds Bernstein declining to comment in sixth paragraph.)
By Sonia Sirletti and Francesca Cinelli
March 10 (Bloomberg) -- Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. hired Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ analyst Marcello Zanardo to head its European banking equity research team in London, according to two people familiar with the situation.
Zanardo resigned last week after more than five years at Keefe, Bruyette and Woods and will start his new job at Bernstein in June, said the people, who asked not be identified because the appointment hasn’t been made public.
At KBW, Zanardo covered European banks including UniCredit SpA, Intesa Sanpaolo SpA, OTP Bank Plc, Erste Group Bank AG and Mediobanca SpA. His “outperform” rating on Milan-based Mediobanca generated a return of 1.3 percent in the last 3 months, according data compiled by Bloomberg.
Aldo Comi, a banking analyst at KBW, took over the coverage of UniCredit yesterday, reiterating the “outperform” rating on the stock with a target price of 2.5 euros.
Before joining KBW, Zanardo, worked as a research analyst for Dresdner Kleinworth Wasserstein’s European banking team starting in 1999. Zanardo, a native of Padua, Italy, has a Master’s degree in business studies from the Ca’ Foscari University in Venice.
Caroline Hemmings, Bernstein’s recruiting coordinator in London, said in an e-mail that the company had no comment on the matter. Zanardo declined to comment.
--Editors: Dan Liefgreen
To contact the reporter on this story: Sonia Sirletti in Milan at ssirletti@bloomberg.net Francesca Cinelli in Milan at fcinelli@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Frank Connelly at fconnelly@bloomberg.net
