Employees of New Orleans-based Howard Weil Inc. have purchased the firm from Citigroup. Citigroup originally acquired Howard Weil when it bought Baltimore-based Legg Mason's private client and capital markets businesses as part of a $3.7-billion asset swap in June 2005. Howard Weil is an institutional energy boutique providing research, sales, trading and investment banking services to the buy side and to energy companies. Howard Weil will remain based in New Orleans with an office in Houston.