Maurice Leger has left his post as director of research at Financial Research Corp. and joined Loomis Sayles, The MFWire has learned. Larry Petrone replaced Leger at Boston-based FRC, a subsidiary of Mercatus.

Leger left FRC last Friday and started at Loomis Sayles yesterday, according to an industry source. Recently, Leger had been representing FRC as an outside consultant for Loomis Sayles.

"It's a great opportunity for him," said FRC CEO Bruce Fador in an interview with The MFWire. "And it's flattering for both us and Maurice. I'm very sorry to lose him, but we're happy for him."

Leger could not be immediately be reached for comment, as was a representative for Loomis Sayles. Prior to his stint at FRC, Leger ran the institutional investor services and product group for Old Mutual Asset Management. Earlier, he spent seven years at Columbia Management, where he served as director of product management and as a senior project manager.

Petrone signed on with FRC four weeks ago as a consultant and moved to the role of director of research when Leger left. Petrone had worked for Fador at TheStreet.com Ratings from 2006 to 2008.

"I was very happy Larry was available," Fador said. "It was an absolutely perfect role for him and it was very easy for him to move into that role. This was a great opportunity to bring on an inside guy."

Most recently, Petrone was a senior analyst at WR Hambrecht. His resume also includes stops at Fidelity Management & Research Company in the high-yield area and Fidelity Capital Markets as leader of the equity research team. He also worked as a portfolio manager at a hedge fund and managed lending and credit operations at the Boston Co., when it was owned by Shearson Lehman. 

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