Frontline – July 2008

FRONTLINE 2008-07-01 Staff Writer <b>Loughlin Meghji expands NY offices, adds senior staff</b><br />New York-based restructuring advisor Loughlin Meghji + Company has announced five senior staff appointments and a move to new, larger offices in New York, which effectively triples the size o

Loughlin Meghji expands NY offices, adds senior staff
New York-based restructuring advisor Loughlin Meghji + Company has announced five senior staff appointments and a move to new, larger offices in New York, which effectively triples the size of its headquarters. In a statement announcing the expansion, the firm cites dramatically increased demand from distressed and turnaround situations as the rationale for the appointments and relocation. The senior staff appointments the firm announced are Stephen Gawrylewski, Sanjay Purohit, Kevin Shea, and Patrick Tremblay as managing directors and Brian Griffith as a director. Gawrylewski has more than 30 years of experience in turnarounds, restructurings, mergers, and acquisitions. He has assisted clients as an interim CEO, chief restructuring officer and as a financial advisor. Purohit joins the firm from the India-based company GHCL Limited, where he was president and chief executive officer of GHCL Limited’s US operations, which included a leading manufacturer and marketer of textile products for the home fashions and apparel fabrics markets. Shea has more than 20 years of extensive experience in a broad range of public and private corporate finance, M&A and interim executive assignments. Most recently, Shea has served as the chief restructuring officer for an international motorcycle parts/accessories distributor, where he successfully managed the sale process. Before joining LM+Co, Tremblay served as partner and national leader, global manufacturing, risk advisory services for KPMG. And finally, Griffith worked for a restructuring firm where he advised both debtors and creditors in restructuring assignments as well as providing transaction advisory services before joining LM+Co.

Babson Capital names head of distribution London-based Babson Capital Europe, a leveraged loan manager, has announced the appointment of Andrew Godson as head of distribution. The role will make Godson responsible for the firm’s global sales and distribution activities as well as distributing Babson Capital Management’s products to European investors. He joined the firm on June 2nd, and reports to Ian Hazelton, chief executive of Babson Capital Europe. Andrew joins the business from Citigroup (Citi) where he ran syndicate for collateralized debt obligations (CDOs) and structured credit in Europe. In a statement announcing the appointment, Babson reports that while at Citi, Godson was instrumental in the growth of that firm’s CLO franchise into one of the largest on the continent, and was responsible for the global distribution of more than 50 transactions. Prior to Citi, Andrew spent three years working in the securitization group at Nomura where he was involved in the structuring of CDOs and securitization in esoteric asset classes. ?The current loan market dislocation presents attractive investment opportunities, and Andrew’s industry experience and background will help us continue the growth of our asset management business,? Ian Hazelton said in a statement. Babson Capital Europe has been investing in the European leverage loan market since 2001 and as of June 2008 has over €7 billion under management.

BerchWood Partners taps Bridgepoint vet
New York-based BerchWood Partners, has announced the addition of former Bridgepoint director James Wakefield as a senior advisor for the London office of the global private equity placement agent. Wakefield will focus primarily on European, Middle Eastern and African fund managers and investors, using his extensive industry expertise to further build BerchWood’s presence in these key markets. Wakefield joined Bridgepoint Capital, formerly NatWest Equity Partners, in 1989 and was appointed a director of the firm in 1997. Most recently, he was director of fundraising/investor relations with responsibility for over €8 billion of funds under management from third-party investors. ?James’ expertise and experience will help BerchWood and our clients immeasurably, as we continue to build a premier platform designed to maximize the success of each of our client mandates,? said Alexander Apponyi, who joined the BerchWood team three years ago to head up the London office.

Goldman moves European star to Asia
Goldman Sachs has announced it will relocate Richard Campbell-Breeden, co-head of Goldman Sachs’ private equity advisory business, to Asia. Campbell-Breeden is widely regards as a star banker in Europe and the move is part of an effort to deepen the group’s footprint on the continent. The executive will move from London to Hong Kong this summer and assume the title of co-head of Goldman’s mergers and acquisition practice, excluding Japan. During his tenure in Europe, the investment bank was ranked as top adviser on the content for the past three years, with a track record that consists of 75 deals. Last year, the banker landed on the front page due to his role in advising CVC during in its failed attempt to acquire the UK supermarket giant J Sainsbury. Other recent highlights include the £345m acquisition of Pret a Manger, the sandwich chain and the £565m sale of Safety-Kleen, the auto and manufacturing component cleaning group. Campbell-Breeden co-headed the UK investment banking business from 2000 to 2004 before ascending to co-head of the European financial sponsors group. When the Financial Times announced the move, the paper noted that many major investment banks are moving senior European professionals to less developed markets. Morgan Stanley relocated David Law, head of its private equity advisory business outside the US, to Dubai and Lehman Brothers relocated Makram Azar, previously the head of its European media, consumer and retail investment banking unit, to the Middle East.

CMF upgrades financial exec search services
Philadelphia-based CMF Associates, a provider of transaction- and transition-focused financial and management advisory solutions to private equity, middle-market and small cap public companies, has announced an enhanced financial executive search offering specializing in middle-market CFOs and controllers. CMF has hired Kathryn Kehoe as senior director to manage the executive search and recruitment operations. As senior director, Kehoe will lead all aspects of CMF executive search, including the recruitment, assessment, and selection of middle-market senior financial executives nationally for CMF clients. CMF’s executive search capability complements its interim transaction- and transition-related resources and ?911? financial emergency support, providing middle-market companies with a full array of talent solutions to increased and often unexpected talent shortage and financial expertise challenges. Prior to CMF, Kehoe was senior vice president of US operations and strategy and a corporate officer at the Deer Park, NY-based medical and personal care product manufacturer Langer, Inc. Prior to that she was president of Kehoe Associates, a consulting firm providing HR, organization development, and recruitment consulting services to the middle market in a variety of industry sectors. ?Our executive search offering follows CMF’s proven financial consulting services delivery model, and includes a preliminary ?deep dive? during which we evaluate and clarify desired roles and responsibilities, as well as required financial and operational skills, behavioral skills, and leadership characteristics for each position,? said Kehoe.

Gatehouse Bank names head of capital markets
Gatehouse Bank, the London-based Shariah-compliant wholesale investment bank, has named the final member of the senior management team by appointing Anthony Saint as head of capital markets. Saint will take responsibility for origination, structuring and execution of both capital markets transactions and institutional wealth management products. Saint joins Gatehouse from Standard Bank, the London-based international investment banking arm of the Standard Bank of South Africa, where he spent the last ten years. As global head of specialized finance, he was responsible for structured loan transactions, such as Islamic finance, acquisition finance and structured finance. His focus was primarily on the emerging markets covering regions as diverse as Latin America, Russia, MENA, CEE, the Far East and ?New Europe? including Turkey. In Saint’s division of Gatehouse, the bank will provide the full range of Shari’ah compliant debt products, including Sukuk issues and facilities aimed at the bank market, both for Islamic borrowers wishing to access the international markets and for non-Islamic borrowers wishing to tap the liquidity in the GCC. This will include acquisition finance transactions and corporate and asset finance. Gatehouse’s institutional wealth management division will provide sophisticated Islamic investors with a broad product offering, sourcing a wide range of investment opportunities and structuring these into Shari’ah compliant products. ?Investors, vendors and borrowers around the world are becoming more familiar with Shariah-compliant products, such as Sukuks, so Anthony’s appointment further strengthens our ability to provide diversified products for traditional Islamic Finance clients, as well as a wide range of new ones,? said David Testa in a statement.

Bryan, Garnier nabs exec from Close Brothers
Bryan, Garnier & Co., the London-based pan-European investment bank focused on European growth companies, has announced the hiring of Virginie Lazès, as Partner and managing director of corporate finance. Lazès will lead the bank’s investment banking initiatives working closely with Greg Revenu, a founding partner of Bryan Garnier who has been heading the firm’s corporate finance practice since 1998. Lazès joins the firm from Close Brothers and brings over 15 years of experience in strategy consulting and M&A, with a personal track record of more than 40 M&A deals for technology, media and telecom companies. In the statement announcing her appointment the firm reports she was involved in a large number of high profile deals such as the acquisition of Empruntis by MAAF, MMA and GMF, the disposal of Directinet to Interactive Prospect Targeting Holdings, and the acquisition of Sogec Marketing by ING Parcom Private Equity through a leveraged buy-in (LBI). Virginie will bolster the industry expertise and international exposure of Bryan Garnier with her technical expertise in setting up complex financial and trade deals on fast growing companies, and her management skills in leveraging a team of finance professionals,? said Revenu in a statement.

Close Brothers adds new French managing director
Close Brothers, the London-based independent corporate finance adviser, has appointed a new partner in its Paris office to cover a number of advisory areas including the coverage of the financial sponsors’ community and the transport and logistics sectors. Gwénaël de Sagazan joins Close Brothers France from the investment banking division of HSBC France, where he has been for fifteen years. During his time at HSBC, de Sagazan focused on middle-market financial sponsors’ coverage, with a particular focus on the transport, logistics and retail sectors. The size of deals he advised on ranged from €75 million to €1.4 billion. Prior to HSBC he spent six years with Morgan Grenfell and before that he was with the oil major, Total. ?[de Sagazan] is a well recognized name in the French advisory community and to have someone of his seniority joining Close Brothers not only reinforces the strength of our business in France, but also the independent advisory model,? said Stephen Aulsebrook, chief executive of Close Brothers Corporate Finance, in a statement.