Senior commodities salesman quits JP Morgan

David Samuels exits JP Morgan amid commodities shake-up and sale of physical business to Mercuria

JP Morgan, New York

David Samuels, a New York-based managing director in JP Morgan’s commodities group, left the bank in the first half of April, according to a source familiar with the situation.

Samuels was head of commodities financial sponsor coverage, a role in which he oversaw sales of commodity derivatives to private equity firms. Samuels joined JP Morgan in 2005 as a natural gas and power originator, after previously working at Morgan Stanley and Houston-based energy trading firm Enron. It is unclear what his future plans are.

His departure comes amid a major shake-up at JP Morgan's commodities division and the resignation of Blythe Masters, the bank's New York-based global head of commodities.

Masters is leaving the bank after 27 years “to take some well-deserved time off and consider future opportunities”, said JP Morgan chairman and chief executive Jamie Dimon and Daniel Pinto, chief executive of JP Morgan's corporate and investment bank, in an April 2 memo. Masters will continue working with JP Morgan for several months to help oversee the sale of the bank’s physical commodity trading assets to Switzerland-based trader Mercuria, according to the memo, which was seen by Energy Risk.

On March 19, the bank announced it had agreed to sell its physical commodities business to Mercuria for $3.5 billion. The all-cash deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2014.

JP Morgan declined to speak on the record about the departure, while Samuels did not respond to a request for comment.