Fox-Pitt Beefs Up Its Euro M&A Practice

Robin Lough, a veteran of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, has joined Fox-Pitt Kelton Inc., where he will oversee the investment bank’s European cross-border m&a efforts. He will continue to be based in London. “There is a lot of advisory work going on now about potential cross-border deals in the financial services sector,” he says. “I’m conservative in my expectations about a surge of European cross-border deals in the short term, but clearly as national markets approach their endgame in consolidation, there will be opportunities to restructure some banks across national boundaries.” In his most recent position at Dresdner, Lough was a managing director of the financial institutions group. During this period, the company established a lead position in cross-border m&a transactions in Italy and acted as a buy-side adviser in a number of deals in Central Europe. The 42-year old Lough, who was partially raised in Argentina, employs his Spanish and Italian fluency when working with clients from South America and southern Europe. He joined Fox-Pitt Kelton in the wake of last year’s acquisition of Dresdner by the Swiss insurance company Allianz AG. Fox-Pitt Kelton, which was itself acquired by reinsurance giant Swiss Re AG in 1999, is an integrated investment bank specializing in financial services. It has an equity research operation and is also known for its advisory franchise. It handles both mid-market transactions for major clients and large cross-border deals in insurance and financial services. Lough says that the combination of the bank’s independence as a deal adviser with the risk management expertise of Swiss Re has given the firm a range of capabilities that help win assignments. Lough notes that the expansion of the European Union to include countries like Poland, the Czech Republic, and others will provide opportunities for consolidation in the European banking sector. In addition, the regional disparity between aggressive, entrepreneurial banks in some regions and less modernized and shareholder-sensitive banks in parts of the Continent like Germany and southern Italy will result in some restructurings in the near future. Lough, who joined the former Kleinwort Benson Ltd. in 1980, says that a seven-year stint in New York between 1986 and 1993 working on private placements and asset restructuring gave him a healthy respect for the power of credit cycles. “The skill sets that U.S. bankers employed during the economic downturn of the early ’90s led to a more robust restructuring process that often led to assets being rearranged and ending up in healthy companies with healthy balance sheets.” He adds that Europe has a slower capital markets process with more local and regional factors that affect the restructuring process. Buyout Appointments Brockway Moran & Partners Inc. – Patrick J. Boroian has joined this private equity firm as a partner. He had been a managing director at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners. Cypress Group – Christopher B. Harned has joined this New York-based private equity firm as a managing director. Previously, he had headed the global consumer merger practice at Lehman Brothers. Saratoga Partners – Alan Wilkinson has become a managing director at this private equity firm. He had been with private equity firm AEA Investors. Trivest Inc. – Troy D. Templeton was promoted to COO at this private investment firm. He was most recently senior managing director, responsible for acquisitions. Service Appointments Alston & Bird – Michael R. McAlevey rejoined this law firm in early February and is concentrating on m&a and corporate governance. He had been deputy director of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s division of corporation finance. Blaylock & Partners – Former AT&T CFO Daniel E. Somers was named vice chairman at this investment bank. He specializes in the firm’s m&a advisory business. Burrill & Co. – Ann F. Hanham was named as a managing director at this San Francisco-based life sciences merchant bank. She had been a VP at InterMune Pharmaceuticals. Capitalink LC – Judith D. Snow has joined this investment bank as an associate and is involved in the firm’s m&a activities. Previously, she was an account executive at the Pearson Group, a communications consulting firm. Chanin Capital Partners – John Garcia was promoted to VP from senior associate at the firm, which specializes in restructuring, m&a, and other advisory services. Previously, he worked for Pilgrim Investments. CIBC World Markets – Bruce McCarthy, a managing director in the firm’s m&a group, has been promoted to head up the m&a division. He will retain his managing director title. GlenRock Group LLC – Michael A. Carrazza has joined this merchant banking firm as a principal. He had been a founder and managing partner at Conifer Capital Partners, the private equity arm of Mitchell Madison Group. Gordon Brothers Group LLC – Jeffrey C. Bloomberg, a former general partner and senior managing director for the retail and consumer product sectors at Bear, Stearns, was picked to serve in the office of the chairman at Gordon Brothers. He manages the firm’s non-traditional business development, including services to retailers who are involved in m&a, restructurings, and other transactions. Greenhill & Co. LLC – Jeffrey F. Buckalew, Brian J. Cassin, Bradley A. Robins, and David A. Wyles, formerly principals of the firm, have become partners. Additionally, Timothy M. Dwyer, formerly a managing director at Credit Suisse First Boston, comes aboard as a partner at this merchant banking firm. Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin – Franklin W. Hobbs, the former chairman of Warburg Dillon Read, was named CEO at this investment bank. Investec PMG – This research-oriented investment banking firm has expanded its technology, media, and telecommunications division with the hiring of senior technology professionals from UBS Warburg and other firms. Heading the division will be Frank J. Drazka, vice chairman of Investec’s investment banking operations. Previously, he had been a managing director and co-head of the technology investment banking group at UBS Warburg. Additionally, Peter Zurkow will become managing director of the new team. Previously, he had been managing director of UBS’s technology investment banking group. Also joining the team from UBS is Martin D. Magida, who will be SVP of the team. Jason T. Sunderland joins Investec from Merrill Lynch as SVP and Brian Broesder joins from Robertson Stephens. The firm also announced a major expansion of its investment banking health care practice with the hiring of a life sciences team from Tucker Anthony Sutro Capital Markets. The team will be headed by managing director Roger C. Kahn, who had been managing director and co-head of the health care investment banking group at Tucker Anthony. In addition, Peter M. Fry joins the team as SVP. He had been a principal in the investment banking healthcare group. Also joining the Investec PMG life sciences team from Tucker Anthony are VP Jack H. Suggs and associate Michelle Oh. Latham & Watkins – Robert Ticktin has jumped to this law firm from Simpson, Thacher & Bartlett. He concentrates on m&a and joint ventures as part of the corporate practice group. Lazard – Jeffrey Rosen and Art Reichstetter have left Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein to join Lazard as partners. At DKW, Rosen worked on European banking operations. Reichstetter ran a global banking advisory group at the firm. Newbury, Piret & Co. – Richard Vinci was hired as a managing director at this Boston-based investment bank. He had been SVP at Daiwa Securities America. O’Melveny & Myers LLP – Michael Antalics has joined this law firm as a partner. He had been an antitrust litigator at the Federal Trade Commission. Robinson Silverman Pearce Aronsohn & Berman – Melvin Katz has joined this New York-based law firm, where he will focus on m&a and corporate finance. He had been with Maloney, Mehlman & Katz. Steptoe & Johnson – Kees J. Juilwijk was named to head this law firm’s European Union (EU) office in Brussels. He represents technology clients in m&a, antitrust, and other areas before EU regulators. He joined the firm in 2000. TM Capital Group – Jim Grien was picked to head up the new Atlanta office of this merchant banking and financial advisory firm. He had been head of corporate finance at Prudential Securities. Trenwith Securities LLC – Terrance S. McGovern was tapped to lead this financial services firm’s Orange Country, Calif., office. He has worked for Duff & Phelps and Burns Fry. Ziegler Cos. Inc. – Donald W. Thayer was tapped to head the firm’s new health care m&a practice. He concentrates on deals in the healthcare sector. Previously, he had been the senior m&a adviser at Tenet Healthcare. Corporate Appointments Advanced Aerodynamics & Structures Inc. – Roy H. Norris has become chairman, president, and CEO at this aviation company. He is the former president of Raytheon Aircraft. He will lead a program of acquiring other manufacturers of general aviation aircraft. Advanced Neuromodulation Systems Inc. – Kenneth G. Hawari has joined the company as general counsel and EVP of corporate development. He has responsibility for all legal functions at the company and leads its m&a and strategic alliance efforts. Advanced Neuromodulation develops products to treat central nervous system disorders. Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. – Tamar Howson was named SVP of corporate development. She previously had been VP and director of business development at SmithKline Beecham. Datalink Corp. – The company has appointed Charles Wesling as VP of corporate and business development, in which capacity he focuses on strategic alliance and m&a efforts. Datalink is an information storage company. HPL Technologies Inc. – Michael Scarpelli was named VP of corporate development at this software company. He had been a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers. NuVox Communications – Matt Siemens has been picked as executive director of business development. He had been VP of product marketing at Maple Optical Systems. NuVox is a communications provider. Openwave Systems Inc. – Jon Shantz has been named SVP of business development, focusing on strategic partnerships and m&a. Previously, he had been general manager of the mobile business unit of Cicso Systems. Openwave is a communication infrastructure software and applications company. 3M – Robert J. Burgstahler was promoted to SVP of business development and corporate services, focusing on strategic planning and m&a efforts, in addition to overseeing information technology and corporate administrative services. He had been SVP and CFO at this diversified technology company. Washington Mutual Inc. – Todd Baker was hired as EVP of corporate development at this financial services company. He had been a partner at the law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher.