Houlihan Lokey added to its capital-markets capabilities last week, hiring all of Libra Securities' professionals, led by former Drexel Burnham Lambert trader and high-yield salesman Jess Ravich.

Ravich, as managing director and head of debt capital markets, will build out the group, and he foresees adding professionals as the number of assignments grows. His group will complement Houlihan’s restructuring and advisory expertise by expanding the firm’s capital-markets capabilities and giving existing and new clients increased access to capital-market financing.

The capital markets group will do private placements of equity and debt, and new issuances of high-yield bonds, bank debt and investment-grade securities. On some of the larger traditional high-yield deals, though, they may partner with other firms for distribution.

The group will service all industries, a broader mandate than Libra’s M&A and financing work in gaming, travel and leisure, and other industries. Libra’s clients included Bally’s Park Place, Boyd Gaming and Horseshoe Gaming.

Chuck Yamarone, director, and financial analyst Said Al-Alaoui came over from Libra with Ravich to work in the debt capital markets group.

Three of the former Libra professionals, Michael Coster, Stephen Lewis and Nathan Lemmerman, have joined Houlihan’s entertainment group to build its U.S. gaming M&A practice.

Hal Byer, Libra’s head of marketing, will continue in that role and Bonnie Bach, chief financial officer at Libra, is a manager of special projects at Houlihan.

Adding Ravich and his team significantly expands Houlihan's financing capabilities, which is a change in emphasis for Houlihan, said Scott Adelson, senior managing director and global co-head of investment banking, who was instrumental in bringing on the Libra team.

The bank aspires to build its financing business into a significant player, similar to what it accomplished with its M&A division in the past 10 years, Adelson said.

Libra specialized in distressed debt in the 1990s but evolved into a full-service investment bank, working on mergers and acquisitions, leveraged recapitalizations and financial restructurings. Libra had a trading floor in New York from 2002 until 2004. The Libra team had a focus on financing for the gaming industry and established relationships in the gaming industry.

“I find it extremely intellectually challenging because they’re not vanilla deals,” said Ravich, referring to the gaming industry. Interestingly, Ravich has tried his hand at cards and played in the World Series of Poker the past four years.

Ravich, 53, a graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Law School, where he was the editor of The Harvard Law Review, grew up in New Jersey. He founded Libra in 1991.

He did a brief stint at Jefferies & Co. before staring Libra. Ravich was a member of the executive committee of the high-yield group and shared responsibility for running high-yield trading from 1988 until Drexel closed down in 1990.

Prior to that, he ran the firm’s convertible trading desk.

During the heady days at Drexel, Ravich sat next to high-yield specialist Michael Milken in the firm's Beverly Hills, Calif., office. The dizzying pace of deals coming out of Drexel provided Ravich with an education unmatched on Wall Street, he said.

“It was an unbelievable learning experience. We saw so many more deals than at other shops. You grew up fast. In a year, we got eight years of experience,” Ravich said.

Milken and other Drexel alumni remain Ravich’s close friends.

"I believe that Mike is one of the best and brightest financiers of any decade,” Ravich said.

Financial services industry