Just how does an investment banker land a big pay raise these days? Steve Ketchum can thank a string of high-profile deals and solvent clients. Last month Bank of America lured the satellite banking specialist away from UBS Warburg to head its media and telecommunications group; sources say Ketchum received a hefty three-year guarantee reportedly worth several million a year. An 11-year veteran of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, Ketchum moved to UBS in April 2001. Soon after his arrival he brought in a $1 billion convertible deal for longtime client EchoStar, which in turn led to his winning the mandate on the second-biggest deal of 2001 -- advising EchoStar on its $24.6 billion acquisition of General Motors’ Hughes Electronics. But in the risky post-9/11 markets, the conservative UBS backed away from its commitment to make a $2.75 billion high-yield loan to EchoStar, losing its advisory assignment on the loan. UBS insiders say Ketchum -- and the three senior UBS media bankers who followed him -- left to take advantage of Bank of America’s hefty balance sheet and to prevent other clients from getting “EchoStarred.”
