Erin Callan Nails Down New Gig

Wall Street's fascination with Erin Callan was evident by 2:40 PM today as tabloid blog sites posted updates on Erin Callan's employment staus within 10 minutes of the news officially hitting the tape. Unfortunately for Erin, she is the Queen of Wall Street, at least when it comes to page views, and whoring bloggers and down on their luck newspapers will likely continue to dog her every move. Perhaps she knows how Madonna and Brangelina feel, although I would not expect the paparazzi to bother her on the East End over the next six weeks.

Erin chose not to take my advice and move over to Lehman unit Neuberger & Berman, but will take a job well suited to her and attempt to poach a bit of business from Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, whose prime brokerage market share and strengths in underwriting have put them in the catbird seat when it comes to servicing, and banking the 2 and 20 set:

Credit Suisse today announced that Erin Callan will be joining the Bank as a Managing Director and Head of its Global Hedge Fund Business. In this newly created position, Ms. Callan will join the Investment Bank Management Committee and the Global Client Steering Committee. Her appointment is effective September 2, 2008 and she will be based in New York.

In this role, Ms. Callan will spearhead Credit Suisse's strategic advisory and coverage efforts serving the hedge fund community. She will partner and coordinate closely with the businesses that support the Bank's hedge fund clients, including Prime Services, the Financial Institutions Group and Global Markets Solutions Group. MarketWatch

photo Jeff Riedel
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Of course Erin has herself to blame; posing in various magazine spreads in short skirts, and flirting with endless rows of horndog traders with a mere flip of her blond mop on the boob tube.

Although Erin had been well-known in the corner offices of Hedgistan for several years, it was not until she made an appearance on CNBC shortly after the markets close on an unremarkable day in the winter of 2008. Her legend began to grow as she was casually chatting with Maria Bartiromo while wearing an off-white number, no doubt picked out by her personal shopper:

Tina Sussman, her personal shopper at New York retailer Bergdorf Goodman, has started sending racks of clothes to Ms. Callan’s house because the CFO’s schedule is so hectic. Ms. Sussman describes Ms. Callan’s style as “classic and elegant.”

Classic and elegant, indeed, but soon a short selling cabal would drag her into the foxholes, their preferred habitat.  Caught between Dick Fuld and the shorts, Erin’s position quickly became untenable, and Fuld threw her under the bus in a predictable move out of a recurring movie that plays endlessly on Wall Street.

Many of her critics, who have waged war on the long and short sides of many battles, accused her of backtracking on promises made. Of course, in this climate things can quickly change, and I don’t see John Thain being impaled for his comments earlier this year regarding Merrill’s potential sales of stakes in Blackrock or Bloomberg.

What was the big fib? It looks loke a case of he said/she said, and while I might tend to believe Einhorn, Hedgies are not exactly fountains of truth based on my experiences:

Hedge fund manager David Einhorn, who has bet that Lehman shares will drop, publicly challenged her credibility in a May speech, saying she spoke with him privately and later changed her story about how the firm had valued a private equity investment. Bloomberg

Experienced hands on the BuySide routinely engage in cat and mouse games with CFO’s; many of Erin’s critics might have been new to the game, but I have always worked on the premise that management is lying to me, and some questions are not even worth asking CFO’s given the predictable response that will be spit back. You can gauge CFO’s body language, and even catch them hedging, but Erin played the only hand Fuld dealt her. Her new job should be a cakewalk in comparison, and a helluva lot more fun to boot.

Erin is in a better place now...namely East Hampton.  A province of Hedgistan, for sure, but a good place to watch video’s, and lick her wounds.
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Erin Callan Joins Credit Suisse as Head of Hedge Fund Business
MarketWatch

Credit Suisse Hires Lehman’s Callan for Hedge Funds
Bloomberg
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The content contained in this blog represents the opinions of 1440 Wall Street. This commentary in no way constitutes a solicitation of business or investment advice. It is intended solely for the entertainment of the reader, and the author. No Position

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