Hopper Soliday raids PNC in finance push.(financial holding company hires C. Talbot Heppenstall and James Losty)

DOWNTOWN - Hopper Soliday, displaying a new level of aggressiveness in its expansion push, has hired the chiefs of its two biggest rivals in the Pennsylvania public finance work realm.

C. Talbot Heppenstall, PNC Capital Markets Inc.'s public finance manager, and James Losty, formerly of First Union Capital Markets, have both signed on with Hopper Soliday, a historic bond firm born again under the ownership of a hard-charging regional brokerage Tucker Anthony Inc.

For years, Mr. Heppenstall in the western part of the state and Mr. Losty in the east have traded body blows as PNC and First Union vied for the No. 1 ranking of Pennsylvania's leading government bond firms.

Hopper Soliday has generally been ranked fifth.

Now; however, Mr. Losty and Mr. Heppenstall are working …