Credit Suisse just lost 3 more tech investment bankers
Three more Credit Suisse (CS) technology investment bankers have departed the Swiss bank’s San Francisco office, Yahoo Finance has learned.
Wally Cheng, who specializes in semiconductor mergers and acquisitions, is joining Morgan Stanley as a managing director in San Francisco focused on technology M&A investment banking, one person familiar with the matter said.
While at Credit Suisse, Cheng worked on large M&A deals including NXP/Freescale and Avago/Broadcom.
Cheng, who left Credit Suisse in February, was a key lieutenant of Anthony Armstrong, the former cohead of Americas M&A for Credit Suisse who was poached by Morgan Stanley in October to lead the firm's tech M&A.
Cheng recently updated his LinkedIn profile to reflect the career move.
A Morgan Stanley spokesperson did not return requests seeking comment.
Christopher Nam, a director of internet investment banking at Credit Suisse, has also departed.
At Credit Suisse, Nam played a role in Lyft’s $1 billion private fundraise. He also worked on high-profile IPOs including Alibaba, King Digital, MINDBODY and Zalando.
Nam is joining Mizuho in San Francisco as a managing director and head of internet and digital media investment banking, people familiar said.
Mizuho is among those firms taking advantage of the turmoil with plans to expand the number of traders and investment bankers in North America by 10%, Bloomberg News reported earlier this year.
A spokesperson for Mizuho did not return requests seeking comment.
Jeremy Hux has also departed Credit Suisse where he was a managing director and global head of clean technology investment banking in San Francisco.
A Credit Suisse spokeswoman declined to comment on the departures.
The market volatility in 2016 has made it increasingly difficult to execute deals.
"In the first quarter of 2016 and particularly in January and February, we operated in some of the most difficult markets on record with volumes and client activity drastically reduced," Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam said. "While we saw tentative signs of a pick-up in activity in March and then in April, subdued market conditions and low levels of client activity are likely to persist in the second quarter of 2016 and possibly beyond."
Credit Suisse, which has been suffering from its own unique set of woes, accelerated its restructuring plans amid the banking industry slump. In March, management announced it would cut 2,000 investment banking jobs in addition to already-planned cuts. Management is targeting a headcount reduction of 3,500 by the end of this year.
Just last week, investment bank Jefferies poached five top Credit Suisse technology-focused investment bankers, all of whom were managing directors based in San Francisco, in its efforts to expand its Silicon Valley footprint.
