Frontline – January 2008

FRONTLINE 2008-01-01 Staff Writer <b>JPMorgan opens office in Stockholm</b><br />JPMorgan has announced the opening of an office in Stockholm to expand its investment banking and equities franchises in the Nordic region and to underscore its commitment to these markets. The office will be l

JPMorgan opens office in Stockholm
JPMorgan has announced the opening of an office in Stockholm to expand its investment banking and equities franchises in the Nordic region and to underscore its commitment to these markets. The office will be led by Lars Ingemarsson, managing director and head of the firm’s investment banking efforts for corporate clients in Sweden and Nordic private equity clients, and Johan Nordberg, head of cash equities sales for the Nordic region. Robin Lawther, managing director and head of JPMorgan’s investment banking business in the Nordic region, said in a statement: ?We are tremendously excited to be investing in Sweden and the opening of a local office represents a key step in the natural evolution of our successful investment banking practice in the Nordic region.? JPMorgan has had a local office for its asset management business in Stockholm since 1998.

HSBC merges alternative, traditional fund admin groups
As part of its decision to integrate its institutional and alternative fund services business development teams, HSBC Group has appointed Colin Lunn as head of business development for fund services in its securities services division in Asia Pacific. Lunn has served as Asia Pacific head of business development for alternative fund administration services in the past two years. His counterpart in traditional fund administration services, Pauline Wong, left HSBC in October to join rival JPMorgan. Wong was hired to spearhead a drive to jumpstart their alternative fund administration services in Asia. The move to combine institutional and alternative fund administration services comes as HSBC believes that the fund administration needs of traditional and alternative fund managers are converging. Last spring, Paul Stillabower, CEO of HSBC Securities Services in London, merged sales and relationship management of the units.

SGCIB promotes Wilkins in Hong Kong
Société Générale Corporate & Investment Banking has announced the appointment of Ashley Wilkins as head of capital raising and financing for Asia ex-Japan. Wilkins, who is based in Hong Kong, reports directly to Jean-Luc Parer and Olivier Khayat, the global heads of the capital raising and financing division. Wilkins succeeds Jackson Cheung, who moved to Beijing following his appointment as Société Générale Group country head for China. SGCIB’s capital raising and financing business is an issuer-focused division offering product expertise across the equity-debt continuum that includes structured finance (export, infrastructure and asset-based, natural resources and real estate finance), hedging (interest rate and FX derivatives) and capital markets activities (ECM, DCM, strategic acquisition finance, leverage and non-investment grade finance). The division was created in 2006 as part of the Step Up 2010 project.

Grail Partners appoints two
Grail Partners, a Boston and New York merchant bank specializing in financial services and technology, has made two appointments. John Siciliano joined Grail as a partner in January and is now a second managing partner at the firm along with founder Donald Putnam. Siciliano will be responsible for managing the firm’s day to day operations, while Putnam will focus on strategic initiatives and finding new investment opportunities. William Parent joins the firm as partner and chief investment officer from DLB Capital, a private equity firm focused on financial services. Before this, Parent was co-head of BancBoston Capital and director of the M&A Group at BankBoston Financial. Grail also named John Siciliano managing partner. ?We are delighted to have Bill serve as the anchor of our investment team at Grail,? said Putnam, in a statement. Grail plans to launch a private equity business in 2008.

HSBC hires Yap in leveraged finance
HSBC has appointed Anthony Yap as vice president of leveraged and acquisition finance for Asia Pacific. Yap, who will move to Hong Kong from London, will report to David Simons, head of the bank’s business in the region. Yap has particular focus on origination of corporate event and leveraged financings for private equity. Joining Yap in Hong Kong is Abhinav Joshi, an associate, also from London. ?The relocation of Mr Yap demonstrates our commitment to building a leading leveraged and acquisition finance franchise in Asia Pacific, and will enhance our ability to deliver innovative financing solutions to our key corporate and financial sponsor clients,? said Simons in a statement. HSBC has been strengthening its leveraged and acquisition finance team in the region. In March, the firm hired Simons from Credit Suisse with a mandate to build HSBC’s business in event-driven investment grade and non-investment grade financing in Asia, including LBOs and corporate acquisition financings, refinancings, recapitalizations, restructurings and bridge financing. In October, the firm relocated Jeff Bennett as managing director of leveraged and acquisition finance in Asia Pacific from Europe. Bennett reports to Simons.

Fortent upgrades anti-laundering technology
Fortent has released a new version of its anti-money laundering technology. AML 6.0 targets growing areas of concern for financial institutions ? correspondent banking risk and tougher ?Know Your Customer? requirements imposed by regulators. The latest version of AML streamlines the financial crime investigation process and provides deeper profiling of correspondent banking accounts, allowing organizations to better comply with international and local regulatory standards, thereby reducing the risk of enforcement penalties. For clients in the Middle East, AML displays Arabic data in addition to English. ?Our new correspondent banking features meet increasing regulatory expectations and create efficiencies across multiple lines of business, including compliance departments, allowing banks to more accurately assess their risk,? said George Faux, Fortent group executive, client relationship management, in a statement.

German real estate advisory firm appoints three
Deutsche European Real Estate (DERE), a real estate investment and advisory firm, has appointed a new CEO and two other directors to its management team. Floor Mouthaan was named the new CEO, and he joins the firm from the Dutch corporate finance boutique Match Finance BV, where he was the founder and senior partner. Lennart Henningson was appointed an investment director, and Michael Hafemann was appointed a director at the firm. Henningson joins from HSH N Bank AG and Haufmann from Environment Development Group AG, an environmental tech consultancy where he currently serves as CEO. DERE chairman Chris Phillips said in a statement: ?The new directors will strengthen DERE’s presence in the Northern European real estate markets and will also enable the company to continue to develop innovative financing solutions for international real estate transactions.?

Rutberg & Company opens Boston office
San Francisco-based Rutberg & Company LLC, an investment bank focused on the wireless and digital media sectors, has opened a new office in Boston and appointed two new managing directors, Jeff Berry and Joseph Sanborn. Berry will serve as head of private capital while Sanborn will be the head of M&A for the firm and responsible for leading the new office. Berry was previously the head of private capital at SVB Alliant, and affiliate of Silicon Valley Bank, where he founded and headed the firm’s private capital franchise. Sanborn was most recently the managing director and co-head of software, internet and services group at SVB Alliant. ?[Sanborn and Berry] bring extensive experience as trusted advisors to the growth companies. A Boston presence has long been part of our strategy and it will allow us to better service our clients located on the East Coast,? said Bryan Rutberg, the CEO of Rutberg & Company, in a statement.

Probitas hires RE pro
Probitas Partners has hired Stacy Kincaid as a vice president for its real estate placement and liquidity management teams. She will be working in the firm’s San Francisco office. Kincaid, who has experience in real estate transactional and managerial positions, will work on Probitas’ project management team, helping fund sponsors raise capital as well as assisting investors with real estate portfolio management. ?We are pleased to have Stacy join our team to continue the growth in our real estate and hard asset practice,? Alan Bear, a principal in Probitas’ real estate placement practice, said in a statement. ?We continue to see growing demand from sophisticated investors who seek focused, differentiated and outperforming returns in these areas and see Stacy as an invaluable addition to enhance the continued growth of the group.? Prior to joining Probitas Partners, Kincaid was the executive vice president of Los Angeles-based AVG Partners, a private investment group with real estate holdings.

Close Brothers hires PE associate director
European corporate finance advisory firm Close Brothers has appointed a new associate director to its European financial sponsors group. Nuala Higgins will be responsible for originating buy- and sellside opportunities for middle-market private equity firms. Higgins comes from private equity search firm Lomond Consulting, where she recruited senior management teams for private equity portfolio companies. Before, she worked at boutique investment bank Livingstone Partners, Grant Thornton Corporate Finance and KPMG. Close Brothers has also appointed a new director, Jonathan Broome, to its European debt advisory group. Broome will advise companies on all aspects of raising debt. Broome has worked at Close Brothers in the past, but left two years ago for Eaton Vance, a mutual fund that manages a non-bank leveraged loan fund.

Hilco hires ex-Polaroid chairman
Financial services firm Hilco has hired Stewart Cohen as an executive vice president. Cohen is charged with expanding the firm’s corporate acquisition, asset disposition, special situations financing and consulting activities across all industry sectors. He will focus particularly on retailing, as well as consumer products manufacturing and distribution. Cohen was most recently chairman of Polaroid Corporation. Before, he founded Paragon Capital, which provides senior debt financing to moderate to high credit risk retailers. His restructuring experience began 1989, when he was appointed executive vice president of Gordon Brothers Partners and helped to create their asset restructuring business. In 1996 he founded retail and wholesale restructuring advisory firm Ozer Group, which was then acquired by Gordon Brothers in 2005.

Fund Management Group buys Zurich spinout
Private equity firm Fund Management Group (FMG) has acquired Risk Enterprise Management (REM) from Zurich Financial Services Group for an undisclosed amount. REM provides property and casualty third party administration services. Gordon Pratt, a managing director at FMG, will take over as chairman of REM, while Mike Riney will continue as president and chief executive. ?We have been looking to support the right TPA firm for some time ? one that handles national accounts and controls its customer loss costs while providing superior information tools and delivering the tailored and responsive customer service those clients deserve,? Pratt said in a statement.

AMP hires head of credit markets
Listed Australian investment manager AMP Capital Investors has hired Jeff Brunton, Queensland Investment Corporation’s former head of global credit, as its new head of credit markets. Brunton held his position at QIC, Australia’s second largest wholesale funds manager, for more than 15 years. He had already left that position when he was hired by AMP. He will start in his new role in January, reporting to head of fixed interest Mark Beardow. Brunton will ?bring solid leadership qualities which will contribute to making AMP Capital’s credit team even more effective,? Beardow said. AMP has assets under management valued at A$122 billion.

Evercore adds MD to London office
Advisory firm Evercore Partners has hired Lehman Brothers’ Anthony Fry as a senior managing director in its London office. Fry is the third managing director to join the firm’s European business this year. At Lehman, Fry was head of UK investment banking and chairman of the firm’s media group before becoming a senior advisor. He has led defenses of the London Stock Exchange, and worked on corporate broking on behalf of Lloyds TSB. Before, he was European head of telecoms at Credit Suisse. The firm launched its Europe operations this February when it purchased London-based financial advisory and investment management firm Braveheart Financial Services.