Swiss financial giant Credit Suisse and relative newcomer LionTree Advisors are putting up some surprisingly strong numbers early in Wall Street’s investment banking leagues.
LionTree, run by former UBS rainmaker Aryeh Bourkoff, is ranked seventh on the coveted merger and acquisition rankings in the US, with some $18.2 billion in transactions, including Liberty Global’s $23 billion bid to acquire Virgin Media, according to Thomson Reuters.
The investment boutique is in its first year of operation, after Bourkoff hung out his own shingle in July.
By comparison, Bourkoff’s former firm, UBS, which has been slashing staff in droves, ranks 18th in the overall M&A tables through Feb. 22.
Meanwhile, leading the technology “league tables” is Credit Suisse, which has bagged some choice deals, including advising private-equity firm Silver Lake on its bid to purchase PC-maker Dell.
This time last year, Credit Suisse was an also-ran, languishing at No. 25 in US tech M&A, according to Thomson Reuters.
Insiders, however, say that the bank’s telecom media and technology unit, led by David Wah and Mark Simonian, has made some key hires, pushing the bank into the upper echelon.
Credit Suisse, anticipating that the tech space would be a big driver for M&A activity, hired tech banker Chris Gaertner away from Bank of America less than a year ago.
The Swiss bank also relocated a key member of its M&A team, Anthony Armstrong, closer to Silicon Valley so the firm can rub elbows with brainy tech CEOs.
One major factor benefiting all banks is a decidedly more upbeat economic outlook shared by corporate bosses, which has driven a recent deal-making resurgence.
To be sure, it’s too early to declare any winners.
A smaller firm like LionTree is likely to lose ground to perennial leaders JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs.