Dealmaker of the year
There’s been a lack of mergers and acquisitions so far this year but that doesn’t mean there haven’t been some exciting deals for bankers to get a buzz from. From innovative rights issues to a resurgence of flotations, with a few traditional acquisitions and sales thrown in, the year has been a lively one for many.
SIMON WARSHAW
UBS
Simon Warshaw, a group managing director of UBS and a veteran deal-maker, makes this year’s list for his role in advising the mobile telecoms group Vodafone on the sale of its stake in Verizon Wireless. Warshaw sees Vodafone realise £84bn in proceeds for the divestment, a figure much larger than many had hoped for. He has been a long-time adviser to Vodafone and has recently worked with the group on its acquisition of C&WW as well as other deals. Warshaw joined SG Warburg in 1986 after graduating from Oxford University. He is one of the few Warburg veterans to have survived the many changes at the now Swiss-owned banking group.
SEBASTIAN GRIGG
CREDIT SUISSE
Credit Suisse’s investment banking vice chairman Sebastian Grigg is selected for his role in leading his bank’s team in the highly transforming debt and equity deal for Thomas Cook that sent the travel company’s shares soaring. Grigg, who is a close confidante of the Mayor of London Boris Johnson, with whom he was at college, is a big personality and a key player at Credit Suisse. Grigg has a strong interest in public policy and stood for parliament at the 1997 general election while working as an associate at Goldman Sachs.
ED BYERS
JP MORGAN
Ed Byers of JP Morgan steered the industrial group Invensys through a rocky period as a long-term adviser and earlier this year led it towards a £3.4bn sale to Schneider Electric.
Byers, corporate broker to Invensys, held firm when the group was a constant takeover target and advised it to keep its independence until a buyer willing to pay a full price came along. He advised the group on the £1.7bn disposal of its rail business last year. Shareholders will thank him, with Schneider paying 505p a share.
DAVID LOMER
JP MORGAN
JP Morgan’s co-head of telecoms, media and technology investment banking in EMEA, David Lomer, is on the short-list for his role in guiding Virgin Media towards its sale to Liberty Global at the beginning of the year in a $23.8bn deal. Lomer has been a central figure in JP Morgan’s TMT team since joining the bank in 1997. His past deals include advising Comcast on its $72bn acquisition of AT&T Broadband and he has also worked with Ziggo on its IPO last year and Cox Communications.
ANDREW SIBBALD
EVERCORE
Andrew Sibbald advised the insurance group Partnership on its highly successful flotation earlier this year, earning him the right to be short-listed since the success of the deal helped to boost the new issues market as a whole. He is chief executive of Evercore’s European investment banking business and a member of the firm’s management committee. He was previously the co-founder and senior partner of Lexicon Partners, which was acquired by Evercore in 2011.
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