[by Larry Goldfarb]

In a move that insiders were waiting for, Morgan Stanley said on Monday that Paul J. Taubman, one of the co-heads of its core securities arm and a top deal-maker, planned to retire at year-end.  The decision followed years of bickering between two of its top executives,  The other co-head of the institutional securities division, Colm Kelleher, will become the sole president of the unit come January and will report to Morgan Stanley's chairman and chief executive, James Gorman.

Highlights of Mr. Taubman's Career:

• End a 30-year career at Morgan Stanley as one of the industry's most prominent mergers bankers, having forged a reputation as a top adviser to the media and telecom industries with a gold-plated client list that includes the likes of Comcast and Time Warner.
• An invaluable part of Morgan Stanley's response to the financial crisis, helping to broker an emergency lifeline from the Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group of Japan that kept the firm afloat.
   

Different Management Styles

• The two have different backgrounds and styles: Mr. Taubman a reserved investment banker, Mr. Kelleher an outspoken former head of global capital markets with a taste for Cuban cigars.
• So rancorous was the squabbling that Mr. Kelleher was moved to London, with the two rarely speaking to each other.
• Yet Mr. Kelleher's broad experience in both banking and sales and trading was one factor in Mr. Gorman's decision to give him the nod

For further details, go to [Dealbook, 11/5/12].