Restructuring Takes Precedence

As the summer came to a close, a number of firms stocked up on restructuring expertise Operational expertise was in demand as fall crept up on the market. Alvarez & Marsal bolstered its North American restructuring practice, hiring Timothy Finley as a managing director to assume a spot in its Atlanta office. Meanwhile, law firm Dorsey & Whitney augmented its financial restructuring and bankruptcy practice with the additions of Michael Foreman and Eric Schnabel. Foreman came over from Proskauer Rose, while Dorsey is a veteran of Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney. Huron Consulting Group also got into the act, with the hirings of Michael Cavan, Gary Dowling and Gregory Duncan, who were brought in as managing directors. Advent International – The private equity firm announced the first members of its Kiev, Ukraine, office have been hired. Tamas Nagy will head the office and Natalie Polischuk will be a principal. American Capital Strategies – Joel Houck has been appointed to serve as senior vice president and managing director. Houck, who was a former senior equity analyst at Wachovia Capital Markets, is set to head a new fund at American Capital. Amherst Partners – Jonathan Martin and Ling Wu have been promoted to managing directors at the private equity firm. Heading the Ann Arbor, Mich., office, Martin joined Amherst in 1996 and has led mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings and advisory engagements. Based in the Birmingham, Mich., headquarters, Wu joined Amherst in 2004 and is focused on mergers and acquisitions. Allen & Overy – Mark Wojciechowski and Andrew Mattei joined as partners in the New York office. Both men will work in the leveraged finance group. Both arrive from Mayer, Brown, Rowe and Maw. Wojciechowski will lead the firm’s North American leveraged finance group. Alvarez & Marsal – Timothy Finley has joined the firm’s North American restructuring practice as a managing director. He will be based in the firm’s Southeast region, headquartered in Atlanta. He had been CEO at Jos. A. Bank Clothiers. In addition, he is a founding member of the Turnaround Management Association. Arsenal Capital Partners – John M. Dupuy was named as an operating director at the private equity group. Most recently, he held senior management positions with the relocation company Sirva. Ashurst – Murali Neelakantan was hired as a partner in the corporate department of the law firm. He will be based in London and will lead the firm’s India group, working on mergers and acquisitions and other corporate matters. He joins from Arnold & Porter. In another Ashurst hiring, Matthias Kuhn was named partner in the firm’s Frankfurt offices. He advises on the tax aspects of mergers and acquisitions and other transactions. He joins from Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer. Atlas Mining Co. – John Gaensbauer was tapped to become executive vice president of corporate development and strategy. Gaensbauer provided strategic finance, corporate marketing and investor relations assistance to Atlas and other mining companies through his company, BOC Advisors LLC. He is also a former executive at Newmont Mining Corp. Bank of America – James Bowden was promoted to director of private equity investments for the bank’s Global Wealth and Investment Management Alternative Investment Group. Bowden has been with the bank since the 1990s, during which time he helped create Bank of America Capital Advisors. BBK – Pierre Benoit has been named as managing director in the business advisory firm’s New York office. The company has also made 10 other new hires including Steven Abbott and Richard Leal as senior directors in Southfield, Mich.; Ulrich Koch as director of BBK Ratings in Frankfurt; James Tyson as director in Southfield; Mark Bateman, James Downes, Payman Mahjoory and James Street as managers in Southfield; and Steven Sadowski as an associate in Southfield. BerchWood Partners – Robert Moreland has been named a director at the placement agency for alternative fund managers. Moreland has also been named to be the firm’s new director of research. He will be responsible for general partner origination in his new role. Bracewell & Giuliani – Elizabeth McGinley was named partner in the firm’s tax section. She will work on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and real estate transactions. Previously, she had been with Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom. Cardinal Health Inc. – Vivek Jain was hired as executive vice president of strategy and corporate development. Jain joins Cardinal from Phillips Medical Systems, a division of Koninkijke Phillips Electronics NV. At that company, he was a senior vice president of health care strategy and business development. Caris & Co. – Jonathan Meyers was appointed head of technology banking. He had been the senior technology banker for Hambrecht + Co. Previously, he was a managing director at SoundView Technology Group Inc. for 10 years, responsible for establishing the firm’s San Francisco office and West Coast investment banking effort. Meyers was also director of technology banking at PaineWebber and, later, co-founder of the California office of Needham & Co. He began his career with Loeb Rhoades & Co., and eventually became head of West Coast technology banking at Lehman Brothers Inc. Guy Carpenter & Co. – Paul Lumbis has been hired to manage the reinsurance firm’s European corporate finance business. In particular he will work on mergers and acquisitions and the firm’s investment banking specialty practice. He joins Guy Carpenter from Ernst & Young, where he worked as a senior manager with a lead role in the Lloyd’s, London and Bermuda insurance markets practice. Carlyle Group – Rahul Gupta, Ryoko Kondo and Agnes Kong were named vice-presidents for the private equity firm’s Asia leveraged finance group. Gupta was formerly a director with UBS’s Asian fixed income research. Kondo was with J.P. Morgan’s Asia syndicated and leveraged finance team. Kong was a senior associate with at J.P. Morgan’s Asia syndicated and leveraged finance team. CIT Group Inc. – Charlie Cunningham, Richard Hatley and John Kopcha were named as senior vice presidents of business development in the financial services company’s commercial and industrial group. Comerica – Anthony Caudle has been named managing director of Comerica’s corporate investment banking group. Housed within Comerica Securities, the corporate investment banking group provides underwriting services for corporations. In the newly created position, Caudle will focus on strategies to increase national sales and deal flow. Close Brothers – Burkhard Weber will join the firm as a managing director on Oct. 1 and will focus on mid-market deals. He joins from the corporate finance mergers and acquisitions department of KPMG. Credit Suisse – Robert Jesudason was named managing director and head of the financial institutions group for Asia except Japan. He will be based in Hong Kong. He joins Credit Suisse from J.P. Morgan Chase’s Asian special situations group where he was a managing director focused on private equity investments in financial institutions. Critical Therapeutics Inc. – Tucker Kelly has been appointed CFO and senior vice president of finance and corporate development. Prior to joining Critical, Kelly was a life sciences investment banker, most recently with Canaccord Adams. Crossbow Ventures Inc. – Mark Patten and Brian Bilnoski were each promoted from senior associate to principal. In addition, managing director Matthew Shaw will be leaving the firm. Deloitte Financial Advisory Services LLP – Thomas Kaylor was hired as a principal in the firm’s business valuation practice. Based in New York, he will lead the practice for the banking and securities industry, insurance, private equity, hedge funds, mutual funds and real estate sectors. Kaylor previously worked at CRT Capital Group LLC. Dorsey & Whitney – Michael Foreman and Eric Schnabel have joined the law firm as partners in its financial restructuring and bankruptcy practice group. Foreman will be based in New York, while Schnabel will work out of the Wilmington, Del., office. Foreman joins from Proskauer Rose, while Dorsey comes aboard from Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC. Dresdner Kleinwort – Sally Stott was named a director in the financial services group’s acquisitions and infrastructure finance arm in London. She arrives from Espirito Santo Investment, where she was a director. Durango Capital Corp. – Kirk Gamley has been appointed vice president, corporate development at the financial services firm. Energy Investors Funds – Scott Parkes was named a senior associate in the Mill Valley office of the private equity fund manager. He had been with ExxonMobil in Houston, Texas, where he worked in corporate finance and investor relations. Focus LLC – Fred Floberg has been hired as a regional managing director of the Chicago office of the investment banking firm providing merger and acquisition and corporate finance services to middle-market companies. Floberg, had been manager of his own firm, Floberg and Associates. Prior to forming his own firm, Floberg had been a managing director at Ocean Tomo, selling intellectual property assets. Fox Paine & Co. – Seth Gersch was tapped to become chief financial officer at the private equity firm. Gersch comes from ThinkEquity Partners LLC, where he was chief operating officer, a senior partner and a member of the executive and management committees. Previously, Gersch worked at Banc of America Securities LLC and Morgan Stanley. Fulbright & Jaworski – Kevin Trautner and Charles Powell joined the law firm’s international practice recently. Trautner came over from King & Spaulding, while Powell joined from Haynes & Boone. Both men will work in the firm’s international corporate practice. Genstar Capital – Paul Clark has been appointed as operating partner where he will concentrate on life sciences and healthcare. He most recently served as chairman and CEO of ICOS Corp. Habanero Resources Inc. – Daniel Terrett was named vice president of corporate development at the junior oil and gas development company. Harris Williams & Co. – Garvin Arevian was named to the post of vice president in the technology group at the mid-market investment bank. He was previously a vice president at Canaccord Adams Inc. Holland & Knight LLP – Michael Zeb and A. Thomas Skallas have joined the firm’s Chicago office as partners in the corporate mergers and acquisitions group. Both had been partners at Arnstein & Lehr LLP. Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zurkin – George Odden was named a director of the investment bank’s aerospace defense government group. Previously, Odden was vice president of M&A for Honeywell Aerospace. He is also a veteran of UBS Rockwell, Collins Inc. and Dillon Read & Co. Huron Consulting Group – Michael Cavan, Gary Dowling and Gregory Duncan were hired as managing directors. Cavan, a restructuring pro joins from MorrisAnderson & Associates LLP. Dowling joins from BearingPoint Inc., while Duncan joins from Deloitte Financial Advisory Services. Inovio Biomedical Corp. – Michael Fons has been promoted to vice president of corporate development at the DNA vaccines company. He had been executive director working on corporate strategy. Dr. Fons previously held business development roles with Vical, Valentis, and GeneMedicine. He is an adjunct associate professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Texas. JMP Group – Jonathan P. Dever was named managing director and head of financial services investment banking at JMP Group’s broker-dealer subsidiary. Prior to joining JMP Securities, Dever was a managing director in the investment banking division at Lehman Brothers, working with finance companies and depositories. Dever previously served as an executive director in the financial services group at UBS and spent eight years in investment banking at PaineWebber before its acquisition by UBS in 2000. Key Principal Partners – Nick Stone was named a director in charge of West Coast business development at the private equity and mezzanine firm. He had been a vice president at Chicago-based private equity firm Northlight Capital LLC. Lazard – Ken Costa is leaving UBS where he was vice chairman of investment banking. Costa is joining Lazard where he was named chairman of Lazard International and will also be a deputy chairman of the firm. He will start the new position in October. LECG – Richard Boulton has been named head of the expert services firm’s global financial and accounting securities group. He joined LECG in 2002 after a 20-year career as a manager at Arthur Andersen, where he specialized in forensic accounting services. Lincoln International – Patricia Luscombe was hired as a managing director in charge of valuation and fairness opinion assignments. Luscombe had been a managing director for Duff & Phelps Inc. She also worked for Smith Barney earlier in her career. In another Lincoln personnel move, John Herrmann was hired as vice chairman of the firm’s North American operations. He had been a managing director in the mergers and acquisitions practice at J.P. Morgan Securities Inc. Merrill Lynch & Co. – Rahul Malhotra has been named head of the firm’s private banking operations in Asia, excluding Japan. Malhotra had been head of the firm’s India private banking unit. Nixon Peabody LLP – Lawrence Thomas was named to the position of counsel in its venture capital, emerging growth and technology group in Boston. Thomas founded a boutique law firm and held positions with Fidelity Investments and Investors Bank and Trust Co. Norwest Partners – Joshua Goldman was named a venture partner at the Palo Alto, Calif.-based venture capital fund. He will focus on the consumer Internet and media sectors. He was formerly CEO of Akimbo Systems and, earlier, was entrepreneur-in-residence at Credit Suisse Group’s venture affiliate the Sprout Group. Palomino Capital LP – Rupesh Patel has been named as an associate in the middle market merchant bank’s investment banking practice. Patel had been a consultant with Mercer Management Consulting in Dallas. Phoenix Capital Resources – Mark Karbiner has been promoted from senior associate to vice president. Karbiner had been an analyst for the boutique investment bank Howard, Lawson & Co. Pepper Hamiliton – Mitchell Ames and James Stevralia were named partners. Both men will work together on mergers, acquisitions and private equity transactions. They join the firm from Hogan & Hartson LLP. Ames works in corporate and securities functions, while Stevralia covers a tax practice. Red Back Mining Inc. – Simon Jackson was named to the position of vice president for corporate development. Jackson had been Red Back’s CFO. He has over 20 years experience in the resource industry. Red Back is a mid-tier gold producer. Riverstone Holdings LLC – John Browne, former BP CEO, was named to be a director and managing partner of PE firm Riverstone Europe. Brown will be based in the energy specialist’s London office. Browne had also been with Apax Partners Worldwide LLP as chairman, a position he relinquished September 1. Seabury Partners – Matthew Bresler, Myles Goeller, and Craig Segor were named senior vice presidents. All three executives joined the firm from Bain & Co. in 2004. Scouler & Co. – The Los Angeles-based financial services and restructuring firm hired John Hedge to open its new Atlanta office. Previously, Hedge was CFO and executive vice president for finance of TestAmerica Analytical Testing Corp. Sonnenschein Nath & Rosenthal – Kelly Toronyi has joined the law firm from DLA Piper US. She will work on mergers and acquisitions, employee benefits and compensation and will be based in Chicago. SonuSite Inc. – Marcus Y. Smith was tapped to fill the job of vice president, corporate development, at the hand-carried ultrasound equipment company. Previously, Smith was with Philips Medical Systems, where he served as senior director of strategy and business development. Tortoise Capital Advisors – Dave Henriksen and Lisa Marquard joined the firm as, respectively, vice president and research analyst. Henriksen was most recently a vice president at Great Plains Energy, while Marquard was with the financial institutions group at Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. Trenwith Group LLC – Michael Vi has been named as managing director for Trenwith Valuation LLC, the corporate valuation arm of the financial services holding company. Yi will be based on Costa Mesa, Calif. He had been with investment bank BCC Capital. Tricor Pacific Capital – Jack L. Westerman has been hired as a senior associate in the Chicago office of the private equity firm. He had been with Winston & Strawn where he represented private equity investors in mergers and acquisitions transactions. Westshore Capital Partners – Ryan Cortner was named to the post of vice president. Cortner has previously worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he advised on public and private deals. UBS – John Katzenmeyer was named executive director for the bank’s financial institutions group, within the UBS investment bank. He had been a principal in Bank of America Securities’ financial institutions group. Previously in his career, he held positions with WR Hambrecht + Co. and Credit Suisse First Boston. (c) 2007 Mergers and Acquisitions Journal and SourceMedia, Inc. All Rights Reserved. http://www.majournal.com http://www.sourcemedia.com