M & A Appointments

Austin Ventures – Early-stage venture capital firm Austin Ventures announced the addition of a new venture partner, Thomas Ball, who focuses on IT companies. Most recently, he had been CEO and co-founder of Openfield Technologies, a provider of e-commerce and business management software. Robert W. Baird – Industry veteran Leslie Cheek IV has joined the firm’s investment banking team as managing director of its newly opened Boston office. Previously, he was a managing director in the investment banking group at SunTrust Robinson Humphrey. Banc of America Securities – Scott Ullem joined the firm’s global industries corporate and investment banking group as a managing director and head of Midwest industrials, based in Chicago. Ullem, a 14-year Goldman, Sachs veteran, most recently was a managing director in the investment banking services group at Goldman. Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft – The firm recruited L. Kevin O’Mara as a partner in its corporate and M&A department. He is based in New York. Most recently, he had been a partner at Clifford Chance US. Carlyle Group – This private equity giant has formed a buyout team in India, based in Mumbai. Managing director Rajeev Gupta, a former managing director and head of investment banking at DSP Merrill Lynch, heads the team. Raj Dugar, former founding director of Merlion India Fund, has been named director, and Manoj Dengla, a former associate in Goldman, Sachs’ special situations group in New York, was named senior associate. Century Park Capital Partners – California-based Century Park Capital promoted Steve Trembley to VP and welcomed new VP Guy Zaczepinski to the firm. Zaczepinski joined from ACI Capital, where he was involved in private equity deals in the consumer and industrial sectors. Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals – Drug maker Ceragenix named Russell Allen as its new VP of corporate development. Prior to joining the firm, Allen served as SVP of corporate development at Cellular Genomics, and VP of corporate development and strategic planning at Ligand Pharmaceuticals. CIT Group – Timothy Eichenlaub has joined the firm as a senior managing director and head of global sponsor finance, in which capacity he develops and manages relationships with financial sponsors and private equity firms engaged in LBOs, MBOs, recaps, and other leveraged transactions. Eichenlaub joined CIT from GE Commercial Finance, where he held managing director positions in both the merchant banking group and the commercial and industrial finance business. Citigroup – Word has it that the firm has made three hires in its energy, utilities, and chemical investment banking group: Paul Murphy, Craig Wellen, and Gary Zimmerman come from Barr Devlin, a Societe Generale unit that advises power and natural gas companies on M&A. Murphy, who headed the natural gas industry group at Citigroup’s Salomon Brothers before joining Barr Devlin in 2000, has rejoined Citigroup as a managing director in the North American power group to focus on its natural gas business. Wellen has joined CIT’s power group as a VP after spending eight years at Barr Devlin. Zimmerman has joined the M&A group as a VP. Prior to his three years at Barr Devlin, he was an associate and analyst in Merrill Lynch’s energy and power group. Clifford Chance – Nicholas Williams joined the firm as a partner in its Americas M&A practice. He joined from White & Case, where he focused on insurance M&A deals and regulatory matters. Credit Suisse First Boston – Leone Pattofatto will join the firm as a managing director and head of Italian M&A, based in Milan, starting on September 5. Pattofatto will join from Morgan Stanley, where he has spent 14 years, initially as part of the firm’s European M&A department in London, and currently as an adviser to Italian clients as part of the Italian investment banking group. Deutsche Bank Securities – The firm bagged Harlan Wakoff as a managing director in its media and telecom investment banking group and head of media M&A in the Americas. Wakoff is based in New York. He joined the firm after spending six years at J.P. Morgan Chase, where he was a managing director focused on media M&A. In other news, the firm welcomed John Calvert, a new managing director in the large-cap investment banking group who is based in New York. In his new role, he provides deal advice to the firm’s biggest corporate clients and he also works closely with Deutsche Bank’s global metals and mining team. Calvert joined from Credit Suisse First Boston, where he had worked for six years, both in New York and Toronto, most recently as a managing director and global head of mining investment banking and a senior banker covering large-cap Canadian companies. Also, it has been heard on the Street that the firm will be hiring a senior investment banker from International Real Returns: Jean-Laurent Nabet, who is currently head of M&A at French media company Vivendi. DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary – The firm added two partners, Minh Dang and Kevin Murphy. Dang and Murphy, who both will join from White & Case, will be based in Hong Kong and Singapore, respectively, and will develop the firm’s corporate practice across Asia. The appointments will take effect later this summer. Emerald Hill Capital Partners – This new private equity fund of funds, set up by David Spencer, formerly a managing director at GE Capital, focuses exclusively on Asia. Spencer most recently served as managing director and commercial leader of GE Commercial Finance-Asia. Before that, he had founded and led GE’s financial restructuring group. Fifth Street Capital – Robert Kiesel has been hired as the firm’s new principal/portfolio manager, in which capacity he sources and manages mezzanine investments. Kiesel formerly was a managing director and partner at Scius Capital Group in New York. Financo – Joining the firm is Joyce Greenberg, a managing director who focuses on M&A and private capital-raising activities. Previously, she headed up the retail industry practice at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette and Kidder, Peabody. Fulbright & Jaworski – Jennifer Nelson joined the firm’s corporate, banking, and business department as counsel in Dallas. Nelson had been an associate at Munsch Hardt Kopf & Harr. Greenhill & Co. – The firm welcomed Karl-Hermann Baumann as a senior adviser. Baumann served until last January as chairman of the supervisory board of Siemens AG. Before that, he was Siemens’ CFO from 1988 to 1998. Harris Nesbitt – Christine Gallagher has joined as a managing director in the health care group, with responsibility for leading the firm’s life sciences effort. She is based in New York. Gallagher most recently was a managing director at C.E. Unterberg, Towbin. Also, the firm hired John Phillips Jr. as a managing director in its consumer and leisure group. He is based in New York. Phillips most recently was a managing director at Bentley Associates, where he provided M&A, strategic, and financial advice to consumer products and services companies, food and beverage producers, business service companies, and financial sponsors. Headwaters MB – This Denver-based mid-market merchant banking firm brought in Todd Hellmann as a managing director, in which capacity he specializes in the branded consumer products and technology industries. Hellmann had been co-founder of investment banking firm Metcalf Group and formerly worked for UBS in its technology, media, and telecommunications M&A group. Lane, Berry – This Boston-based investment banking firm hired Tim Walsh to its New York office as managing director and head of the technology banking group. Walsh most recently had been global head of technology corporate finance at SG Cowen Securities. Latham & Watkins – In a major expansion of its antitrust practice, the firm recruited prominent antitrust trial lawyer Margaret “Peggy” Zwisler and three fellow antitrust litigators. Zwisler joined Latham as a partner along with Charles Samel, William Sherman, and Eric McCarthy, who are also joining as partners. Zwisler, Sherman, and McCarthy will be in Latham’s Washington, D.C., office, while Samel will practice in Los Angeles. The four joined from Howrey LLP, where Zwisler has practiced for 29 years. In other news, corporate finance lawyer Steven Stokdyk joined Latham’s Los Angeles office as a partner in the corporate department. He joined from Sullivan & Cromwell, where he had been a partner since 2000. Lazard – Following consolidation of its European investment banking group, Georges Ralli, Jeffrey Rosen, and William Rucker are serving as co-chairmen of Lazard’s European investment banking committee. Also, Bruno Roger was named chairman of global investment banking, with responsibility for coordinating cross-border business. Lehman Brothers – Nine recent hires, including a new head of M&A, have boosted the firm’s investment banking team in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Rudolf Woetzel and Michael Bonacker, both from Deutsche Bank, and Christian Karcher, from Credit Suisse First Boston, joined the firm as managing directors. Woetzel is head of M&A for Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Bonacker covers industrial and financial clients, while Karcher focuses on telecom and power companies. Previously, Woetzel had been a managing director in Deutsche Bank’s investment banking division for six years. Bonacker was a managing director for five years in the financial institutions group at Deutsche Bank, while Karcher had spent seven years at CSFB, most recently as a managing director in German investment banking. The firm also recruited Gerd von Bassewitz and Till Reuter as executive directors, Matthias Lilienthal and Julian Schoof as directors, and Holger Knittel and Malte Schwaner as associates in its German investment banking team. Locke Liddell & Sapp – David Patrick Elder has joined the Houston office of the firm as a partner in its corporate and securities division. He focuses on M&A, public and private securities offerings, private equity and venture capital financing, and corporate governance. He joined from Baker Botts, where his focused on similar areas. Nomura Securities International – The firm hired Jack Leventhal as a managing director and head of U.S. financial institutions in the investment banking division. He is based in New York. Previously, Leventhal was CEO and global head of financial institutions at Deloitte & Touche Corporate Finance. O’Melveny & Myers – Matthew Doughty, formerly a partner in the corporate group of DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, joined O’Melveny’s London office as a senior associate. Doughty specializes in M&A and equity capital markets transactions. Petrie Parkman – Moving up the ranks at this energy investment bank are Randall King, head of the firm’s divestiture group, and Jon Hughes, head of the merger group. They became co-heads of investment banking. Hughes moved from the firm’s Houston office to Denver and King remains in Houston. Piper Jaffray – David Parker is the new head of technology M&A, based in the firm’s Menlo Park, Calif., office. Previously, he had been with Thomas Weisel Partners, where he had been one of the two senior partners leading the M&A practice for the past six years. RBC Capital Markets – Hiring of two Wall Street pros further expanded RBC’s investment banking group. Kevin Davies joined the firm as a managing director in health care investment banking and Chris Mulligan became a managing director and co-head of the media, communications, and entertainment investment banking group. Previously, Davies had been managing director of life sciences investment banking at Wells Fargo Securities. Mulligan had served at Wit Soundview and Salomon Smith Barney and spent the past year establishing a New York office for Headwaters Merchant Bank, leading coverage of the media and consumer sectors. Southern Capitol Ventures – This Raleigh, N.C.-based early-stage VC firm has named David Jones a principal. Prior to joining the firm, he had been a senior IT consultant for Deloitte Consulting, where he managed strategic technology projects for the Department of Homeland Security. Summit Partners – Moving up the ranks at this private equity/venture capital firm are Tom Jennings, elevated to principal, in the Boston office, and Greg Goldfarb, who became a VP, in the Palo Alto office. Jennings had served as VP from 2001 until 2005. Goldfarb had been a senior associate since 2003. Texas Pacific Group – Vivek Paul, former vice chairman of outsourcing firm Wipro Ltd. in India, has joined the private equity firm as a partner, specializing in technology and life sciences. Paul was also president and CEO of Bangalore-based Wipro Technologies. TSG Consumer Partners – The firm, formerly named The Shansby Group, added Pierre LeComte as a VP. Previously he was a manager at Bain & Co., where he led strategic diligence teams in the consumer goods sector. UBS – The firm recruited Daniel Ward as a managing director in its M&A investment banking group, based in New York. Ward is responsible for M&A work, primarily in the energy sector. He joined from Deutsche Bank, where he was responsible for M&A in the energy, utility, and chemical sectors. Prior to Deutsche Bank, he had been with Morgan Stanley in its M&A group. Wachovia Securities – Michael Fekete joined the firm as a managing director in its health care investment banking group, based in San Francisco. Fekete joined Wachovia from CIBC World Markets, where he had been a managing director and head of the West Coast health care investment banking practice. Also, Michelle Cherrick joined the firm as a managing director in its consumer and retail investment banking group. She is based in San Francisco. Cherrick came to Wachovia from SG Cowen, where she was head of consumer investment banking. Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr – The firm’s Hale & Dorr Venture Group welcomed Robert Chow as counsel, based in Waltham, Mass. Chow was an associate attorney at Greenberg Traurig, where he covered M&A, strategic alliances, securities, corporate, and licensing matters. (c) 2005 Mergers and Acquisitions Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.majournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com