M & A Appointments

Bain Capital – Morgan Stanley’s former China chief executive, Jonathan Zhu, has joined the firm as a managing director and a founding member of Bain’s Asia investment team. He is based in Hong Kong. Baker & Hostetler – A number of lawyers at the firm have been elected to the partnership. New business/corporate partners in the Cleveland office are Emanuel Cotronakis, Matthew Tenerowicz, and Peter Van Euwen III. In the Denver office, new partners are Thomas Romer and David Waller. New partner Janis Penman is based in Washington, D.C. Baker & McKenzie – The firm recently elected a new partner in New York – Robert Grauman, who joined last year and is a member of the securities/capital markets and corporate/M&A groups. The firm also recently tapped James Sileneck as counsel in its corporate and securities practice. He joined from O’Melveny & Myers. Barclays Capital – Moving up the ranks at the firm, into newly created positions, are Reuben Daniels and Mathew Pendo, co-heads of U.S. investment banking. They are based in New York and previously had been managing directors. Bose McKinney & Evans – Jason Farmer has joined the firm as of counsel in its business services and real estate groups. He focuses on general business and transactional law, M&A, corporate finance, and commercial real estate transactions. Brown Gibbons Lang – Enhancing its food and beverage group, the firm hired H. Glen Clarke as a managing director and head of the division. Clarke joined the firm’s Chicago office from Harris Nesbitt, where he had been a managing director and head of that firm’s diversified food group. Brown Rudnick Berlack Israels – International law firm Brown Rudnick elevated two corporate attorneys to the partnership: Linda Goebel and Edwin Pease. Goebel is based New York while Pease belongs to the corporate practice group in Boston. Carl Marks Advisory Group – Investment bankers Christopher Wu and Evan Tomaskovic have been promoted to managing directors. Wu joined the firm in 2003. Previously, he had been a VP in the M&A group at J.P. Morgan Securities. Before joining the firm in August 2005, Tomaskovic had been SVP of financial institutions at RBS Greenwich Capital Markets. Chanin Capital Partners The specialty investment banking firm promoted Kevin Fagan and Tim Pellegrin to directors in its New York M&A group. Fagan joined Chanin in 2002 from Prudential Securities. Pellegrin, who also had previously been with Prudential, joined the firm in 2003. CBIZ Valuation Group – Robert Cronin has recently joined the firm as managing director-Midwest financial valuation practice. Before this, Cronin had been a VP at Valuation Research in Chicago. Cobblestone Advisors Growing its practice in recent weeks, Cobblestone added three new professionals: Harold Williams III, Craig Custer, and Michael McClain. The firm, a division of Harris Williams, specializes in advising lower mid-market companies on M&A issues. Williams and Custer were previously co-founders of Custer Williams, an investment bank specializing in lower mid-market deals. Before joining Cobblestone, McClain had been an investment banker at PNC Capital Markets, focusing on mid-market M&A and leveraged finance deals. Collier Shannon Scott Former Federal Trade Commission official John Delacourt joined the firm as of counsel in its antitrust practice group. He had been Chief Antitrust Counsel of the FTC’s Office of Policy Planning. Cornerstone Research – Cornerstone, a national consulting firm that provides economic and financial analyses and expert testimony, welcomed Michelle Burtis, Ph.D., as a VP in its antitrust practice. Previously, Burtis had been a director as well as managing director of competition policy at LECG, an expert services firm. Deloitte & Touche – International M&A specialist Chris Hyams has moved from Pricewaterhouse-Coopers to join Deloitte as a partner in its private equity transaction services team in London. Hyams had been a partner in PWC’s transaction services practice in Paris. DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary US – Venture capital, private equity, and IT and telecom specialist Rocky Lee has been tapped as head of the firm’s venture capital and private equity practice in China. Prior to this, Rocky worked in the Beijing office of Lovells. The firm also welcomed Kerry Smith as a partner in its corporate and securities practice group in its Silicon Valley office. The former Pillsbury Winthrop attorney focuses on domestic and international M&A. DLJ Merchant Banking Partners – Private equity pro Neal Pomroy has been promoted to managing director. Fulbright & Jaworski – Partners Joseph Kinning, Girard Miller, and Jeffrey Saunders, counsel Amy Dahl, and senior associate Rebecca Sandberg have joined the Minneapolis office in the firm’s corporate department. Miller, Saunders and Sandberg joined from Lindquist & Vennum. Kinning and Dahl had been with Gray Plant Mooty. Also, the firm recently promoted senior associate Robert Phillpott Jr. to partner in the Houston office. His practice focuses on business taxation, with an emphasis on the tax consequences of mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, JVs, spin-offs, and restructurings. Genstar Capital – San Francisco-based Genstar named Keith Oster as a managing director, responsible for sourcing and executing acquisitions and divestitures and for oversight of portfolio companies. Oster most recently was with Fremont Partners. GW Equity – Adding to its Dallas headquarters office, the firm hired Edward Weber and Robert Brenner as SVPs/managing directors and M. David Gilliland as an M&A adviser. Previously, Weber was senior managing director of a leading investment bank that specialized in M&A. Before that he had served in the M&A group of Banc of America Securities. Brenner previously held senior positions at IBM, Merrill Lynch, Dean Witter, and Citigroup. Gilliland’s background includes corporate and entrepreneurial pursuits, serving as a consultant and CPA at Ernst & Young, in senior management of several companies, and as founder of several businesses, which he subsequently sold. Harris Nesbitt – The new head of the firm’s media, communications, and technology group is Todd Freeland, managing director. Freeland, who is based in New York, joined Harris Nesbitt from Goldsmith Agio Helms, where he had led the media and communications investment banking practice. Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin – Jason Apple has been named an SVP in the firm’s financial advisory services group, based in Chicago. Apple formerly had been a business development executive at Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. Jefferies & Co. – Moving into the top dealmaking post at the firm is John Huwiler, Jefferies’ new head of M&A. Before this, Huwiler had been a senior managing director in the M&A practice at Gleacher Partners. Jones Walker – Scott Chenevert has been elected to the partnership in the corporate and securities practice in the Baton Rouge office. He represents companies in equity and debt offerings, mergers and acquisitions, JVs, venture capital investments, and other transactions. KeyBanc Capital Markets – Former founder of boutique investment bank Black Point Partners, Charles Manuel, joined the firm’s technology group as a managing director. King & Spalding – M&A and corporate finance attorney James Wilson has come aboard as a partner in the firm’s corporate group. Wilson, based in Houston, joined from Vinson & Elkins. Kohlberg Kravis Roberts – Buyout giant KKR hired two China pros recently to staff its newly opened Hong Kong office and help step up investment in the region. David Liu, managing director, leads the firm’s investment activities in China. Before this, he had been a managing director and co-head of Morgan Stanley Private Equity Asia. Ming Lu, also a managing director, previously had been a partner in the Hong Kong office of CCMP Capital Asia, formerly J.P. Morgan Partners Asia. Linsalata Capital Partners – This Cleveland-based private equity firm recently promoted Daniel DeSantis and Gregory Taber to principal and Timothy Healy and Jay Studdard to VP. DeSantis joined Linsalata in 2001 as a VP, after serving as senior manager of M&A at Ernst & Young. Taber joined the firm in 2000 as a VP, following more than five years with Deloitte Consulting. Since joining LinCap in 2004, Healy has served as director of business development and will continue those responsibilities in his new position while increasing his participation in deal execution and as a member of oversight teams. Following five years with Deloitte Consulting, Studdard joined the firm in 2004 as a senior associate. Merrill Lynch – Former co-head of health care investment banking at Jefferies & Co., James Lilly, has joined Merrill as a managing director in its health care banking group. Morgan Stanley – The firm moved to fill the gap in its China business by coaxing dealmaker Wei Christianson away from Citigroup. Christianson came aboard as a managing director and CEO for China. She is based in Beijing. Previously, she had been chairman of China for Citigroup Global Markets (Asia). Morrison & Foerster – Longtime Justice Department Antitrust section chief Roger Fones has joined the firm as a partner in its antitrust and competition group in the Washington, D.C., office. Fones, who was with the Antitrust Division for nearly 30 years, most recently served as Chief of the Transportation Energy and Agriculture Section. At the same time, Morrison & Foerster elevated two antitrust attorneys to partner: Rony Gerrits, who works in Morrison’s Brussels office, and Jonathan Gowdy, who practices in Wash-ington. Gerrits focuses on E.U. and E.U. member state antitrust law while Gowdy counsels companies on a variety of antitrust and competition law matters, particularly those in the technology, life sciences, financial services, and other regulated industries. Mosaic Capital – Mid-market investment bank Mosaic Capital recently hired Paul Childs as a managing director. Childs, who is based in Sherman Oaks, Calif., had been the founder and managing partner of Summit Corporate Partners. In other news, Shawn Thompson joined Mosaic as an SVP, focused on M&A and services for financially troubled companies. Previously, he had been a VP at Barrington Associates and also had served as a director at XRoads Solutions, a turnaround management and restructuring firm. Also, Robert Smith joined the firm as a VP, focused on M&A and financing. Prior to joining the firm, Smith had served as CEO of Howard Publishing. Newbury Piret – Beefing up its valuation capabilities, the firm welcomed Ron Adams, CPA, to its executive team as a managing director, in which capacity he leads the firm’s valuation consulting practice. Previously, Adams served as district manager of New England for American Appraisal Associates. North Castle Partners – Specialized private equity firm North Castle Partners promoted principal Lou Marinaccio to managing director. Marinaccio joined the firm in 1999 from McKinsey & Co., where he most recently had served as an engagement manager in the M&A practice. The firm, which focuses exclusively on consumer businesses dedicated to healthy living and aging, also promoted Jay Wilkins and Alison Minter from associate to principal. Wilkins joined North Castle as an associate in 2001. Previously, he had served in DLJ’s leveraged finance group. Minter also joined the firm in 2001 as an associate. Before that, she worked at investment firm Evolution Global Partners. Piper Jaffray – Thomas Chen, former head of the diversified financial services group at Banc of America Securities, joined the firm as co-head of the financial institutions investment banking group, based in the New York office. Pricewaterhouse- Coopers – Michael Burwell moved up the corporate ladder, becoming the firm’s new U.S. leader of the transaction services practice. Burwell had headed the group’s automotive practice and its central region. Robert W. Baird – The firm has promoted investment bankers Joel Cohen and David Wierman to managing directors. Cohen, based in Chicago, is a member of the firm’s industrial and financial sponsors groups. Wierman, based in Atlanta, is a member of Baird’s financial sponsors group. Rodman & Renshaw – Dr. Matthew Geller has been named a senior managing director and head of health care investment banking, in which capacity he focuses on IPOs, M&A, reverse mergers, and PIPEs. Dr. Geller was previously a managing director and senior biotechnology analyst at Oppenheimer and CIBC World Markets. Schneider Downs Corporate Finance – This Pittsburgh-based provider of investment banking and corporate finance advisory services named Peter Lieberman as a director, responsible for managing the firm’s M&A advisory assignments. Previously, he had been a director in PNC Capital Markets’ M&A advisory group. Sheppard, Mullin, Richter & Hampton – The firm elevated three of its corporate and antitrust attorneys to partner. Andre Barlow is in the firm’s antitrust and trade regulation practice in the Washington, D.C. office. Before joining the firm, he had been a trial attorney with the Antitrust Division of the Justice Department. Corporate attorney Stephen LaSala is based in Sheppard Mullin’s Del Mar Heights office. He specializes in M&A, public offerings, private financings, and securities law. Mark Watkins, a member of the firm’s corporate practice in Orange County, focuses on M&A, corporate finance, real estate, licensing and distribution, and general business counseling. Tailwind Capital – The firm, which is focused on investments in mid-market health care, media/communications, and business services companies, has brought aboard Frank Sica, former president of Soros Private Funds Management and co-head of Morgan Stanley Capital Partners, as a managing partner. Verrill Dana – Christopher Smith and Christopher McLoon have become partners in the firm. They are based in the firm’s Portland, Me., office. Smith, also a member of the business law group, advises clients on M&A, compliance, and governance matters. McLoon is a tax attorney in the business law group who focuses on tax and business issues arising in business transactions. William Blair – Seven new corporate finance principals recently were named to the firm: Shay Brokemond, Daniel Connolly, Rachel Corn Kluge, Matthew Gooch, Paul Hindsley, Brandon Lower, and Laura Van Peenan. (c) 2006 Mergers and Acquisitions Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.majournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com