Laurence Tosi is certainly well educated, with an MBA and JD (from Georgetown University). Only 40 years old, he has served as Merrill Lynch & Co., Inc. (NYSE: MER)'s chief operator officer of global markets and investment banking.
Well, now he has a new gig: the chief financial officer of The Blackstone Group LLP (NYSE: BX).
With the turmoil on Wall Street, there has been a lot of defections lately. For example, Lazard Ltd. (NYSE: LAZ) investment banker, George Bilicic, moved over to KKR. There was also Lehman Brother Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: LEH)'s investment banker, Gary Weinstein, who took a spot at Providence Equity Partners.
As for Tosi, he seems to be making a good move. After all, Blackstone's stock price has deflated from its IPO highs. In other words, Tosi will get a nice options package.
Moreover, Blackstone doesn't have the balance sheet problems that currently plague traditional Wall Street investment banks. This means the firm has lots of flexibility to snag deals -- which, over the next few years, could make for some nice returns.
Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook
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