CORRECTED-MOVES-Centerview Partners poaches three senior tech bankers from BofA amid M&A boom
(Corrects spelling of name to Robert Pruzan in paragraph 10)
By Krystal Hu
May 13 (Reuters) - Three senior tech bankers at Bank of America have left the bank to join boutique advisory firm Centerview Partners, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jack McDonald has joined Centerview as a partner, after spending over two decades at Bank of America where he was recently co-head of global investment banking. Two other senior tech bankers, Steve Miller and Gary Kirkham, have also joined Centerview.
McDonald has been an advisor on a number of high-profile tech deals including Intel's $9-billion sale of its storage unit to SK Hynix last year.
Centerview and Bank of America declined to comment.
Bank of America simultaneously announced new appointments in its investment banking division on Thursday, naming veteran banker Thomas Sheehan as the sole head of global investment banking, according to a memo viewed by Reuters.
Ron Eliasek has been named chairman of global technology, media and telecom (TMT) investment banking, while Sam Powers will become sole head of the TMT group. Both are based in New York.
Johnny Williams and Ric Spencer were appointed co-heads of global technology investment banking and will remain based in Palo Alto.
Investment banks are benefiting from a record global boom in M&A activity. Bank of America reported a record revenue of $7.4 billion in investment banking fees in 2020, and $2.3 billion in the first quarter this year.
Boutique banks like Centerview are also expanding.
Founded by Robert Pruzan and Blair Effron in 2006, Centerview has built global advisory practices across sectors with a focus on M&A and restructuring. Last year, it brought in $1.3 billion in revenue.
In recent years, Centerview has advised on high-profile deals including Seagate and Bain’s $18-billion acquisition of Toshiba Memory Corp and Sprint's $146-billion merger with T-Mobile. It also advised on Grubhub in its $7.3-billion sale to Just Eat Takeaway last year.
Global tech M&A has hit over $646 billion in deal value year-to-date, nearly quadrupled last year's number, according to Dealogic. (Reporting by Krystal Hu; Editing by David Gregorio)
