JPMorgan Poaches Goldman Sachs Banker for New Germany M&A Head
June 12 2019 - 7:52AM
Dow Jones News
By Ben Dummett
JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) has poached a seasoned investment
banker from rival Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS)as head of mergers
and acquisitions in Germany, according to a memo announcing the new
hire.
Patrik Czornik, whose background is in advising clients in the
telecom, media and technology sector, will focus on helping to
further build out JPMorgan's investment banking business in
Germany. The hiring stands out, coming amid an overall slump in
M&A across the European region.
Globally, the value of deal making is down 16% to $1.7 trillion
so far this year, according to Dealogic. That decline is led by a
58% drop in Europe, which is grappling with sluggish economic
growth and an uncertain political environment in some countries in
the region.
Still, Germany has proven itself this year as an attractive but
challenging hunting ground for private-equity firms seeking to
invest their record amounts of cash by acquiring publicly traded
companies.
In the latest such deal, KKR & Co. (KKR) agreed Wednesday to
buy out the minority shareholders of Axel Springer SE (SPR.XE) in a
deal that valued the German media company at 6.8 billion euros
($7.7 billion). That follows a failed attempt by Hellman &
Friedman and Blackstone Group LP (BX) in May to acquire German
online classifieds company Scout24 AG (G24.XE) for EUR4.9 billion.
JPMorgan was an adviser on both of those deals.
Mr. Czornik's move to JPMorgan marks a return to his roots as a
banker after a 16-month stint at Goldman Sachs, where he worked in
the telecom, media and technology sector advising clients in
Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Mr. Czornik started at JPMorgan in 2005 and before moving to
Goldman Sachs in April 2018, he worked in JPMorgan's German M&A
and TMT investment banking groups. Clients included Deutsche
Telekom AG (DTE.XE) and Telefonica Deutschland AG (O2D.XE) among
others, according to the memo announcing his appointment.
He starts his new role in September and will split his time
between Frankfurt and London.
Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com; @BenDummett
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 12, 2019 07:37 ET (11:37 GMT)
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