News & Analysis

Morgan Stanley reshuffles M&A team

PE Manager tracks third party service providers: Morgan Stanley promotes in-house talent to lead its Americas’ M&A team while Vistra expands its presence in Spain.

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• Tower Fund Services has launched a fund administration service for alternative investment managers. The firm poached  former Apex Fund Services managing director Vincent Sarullo to help form the business, which will offer fund start-up, accounting, valuation, reporting and tax services.
• Markit and Compliance Technologies International has launched the FATCA Service Bureau, designed to help financial institutions comply with the US Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA). It will provide different aspects of FATCA compliance including: gap analysis, validating tax forms and other account documentation and issuing FATCA reporting to the IRS.

• Service provider Appleby has announced that Hong Kong-based managing partner Frances Woo will be appointed as the firm’s group chairman. She will succeed Peter Bubenzer who will retire from Appleby on 31 March, following more than 32 years at the firm.

• Vistra, a provider of corporate, trust and fund administration services, has opened offices in Madrid and Barcelona to target opportunities both in Spain and in the Americas. Oscar Garcia will lead the Spanish operation as managing director of Vistra Spain and executive director of Latin America.

• Alvarez & Marsal has added Walt Boyer to its financial industry advisory services group as a Houston-based managing director. Before joining the professional services firm, Boyer was a managing director with New York investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods, where he focused on M&A, divestitures and security offerings. 

• Bob Eatroff and Jim Head have been named co-heads of Morgan Stanley’s Americas’ M&A team, according to the NY Times. They will replace Mark Eichorn who has been promoted to co-head of investment. Morgan Stanley also appointed Colm Donlon and Johannes Groeller as co-heads of M&A in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, following the promotion of Michele Colocci to vice chairman, where she will focus on key clients but remain chairwoman of M&A in the region. All four co-heads have been at the bank for more than 20 years.

• Financial advisory firm Lazard has bolstered its presence down under with the appointment of Steve Scudamore as a special advisor to the firm’s Australian corporate advisory unit. Scudamore was previously Australian head of KPMG’s corporate finances valuations group.