New York, March 22, 2010 – Greenhill & Co., Inc. (NYSE: GHL), a leading independent global investment bank, announced today that Bill Thompson, Fredrik Elwing, Walter Stackler and Pamela Wright will join the Firm as Managing Directors.
The four individuals have been the senior members of the Real Estate Private Fund Group at Credit Suisse, and will focus on building a real estate placement advisory business at Greenhill. This new effort will pursue a range of real estate related advisory activities with a particular emphasis on capital raising for funds, joint ventures and recapitalizations, as well as advising real estate fund investors seeking to sell interests in the secondary market. The new effort will complement Greenhill’s existing Fund Placement Advisory Group for funds outside the real estate area, which was formed when the Firm recruited the leadership group of the former Lehman Brothers team in early 2008. The team will be based initially in Greenhill’s New York, London and San Francisco offices, with the intention to add additional personnel in the near term in those and other offices.
The recruits announced today will bring the number of client-focused Managing Directors at Greenhill in 12 offices worldwide to 64.
Robert F. Greenhill, Chairman of Greenhill, said, "We decided two years ago that the fund placement advisory business was a natural step in the growth of our client focused, unconflicted advisory model. The initial capital raising group we brought in outside the real estate area is off to a good start. With this expansion into the real estate area, we believe we have the potential to build a significant placement advisory business that is an important and complementary addition to the M&A and restructuring advisory businesses around which we originally built the Firm.”
Scott L. Bok, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Greenhill, said, "These four individuals are typical of the senior recruits we seek. They average more than 20 years of relevant experience, they have deep expertise in their area, and together they built one of the leading global franchises in this area. The fact that they have worked together as a team for a decade or more is an additional positive. They will fit well as part of the Greenhill culture."
Simon A. Borrows, Co-Chief Executive Officer of Greenhill, said, "Following up on our announcement last week regarding a major expansion into Australia through an acquisition, this move further demonstrates our consistent strategy of growing the Firm over the years. Our objective is to build the leading independent global advisory firm, with capabilities in all important geographic regions and all important industry sectors, and covering a broad range of types of advice. In pursuit of that objective, we have repeatedly added new geographic or industry expertise by recruiting senior investment bankers from the large, diversified banks and securities firms."
Managing Directors Joining Greenhill
• Bill Thompson, who will continue to be based in San Francisco, has been Managing Director and Group Head of the Real Estate Private Fund Group (REPFG) at Credit Suisse. Bill co-founded REPFG at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), which subsequently merged with Credit Suisse in 2000. Bill has extensive global institutional investor relationships and over 28 years of experience in the real estate, private placement and related businesses. Prior to joining DLJ, he was a Managing Director at Robertson Stephens in the private fund group and private capital management group. Prior to Robertson, Bill was Managing Director at LaSalle Advisors where his responsibilities included acquisitions and new business development. .
• Walter Stackler, who will continue to be based in New York, has been Managing Director and Group Co-Head of the Real Estate Private Fund Group (REPFG) at Credit Suisse. Walter was a founding member of REPFG at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), which subsequently merged with Credit Suisse in 2000. Walter has extensive experience advising clients on fund formation and capital raising and has successfully led transactions in North America, Asia and Europe. Prior to the formation of the fund placement group, he was with DLJ’s commercial mortgage group where he specialized in the origination, underwriting and structuring of multifamily and commercial mortgages. Prior to joining DLJ, Walter was with Ernst & Young Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group where he specialized in distressed debt valuation, feasibility studies and strategic planning.
• Pamela Wright, who will continue to be based in San Francisco, has been Managing Director and Group Co-Head of the Real Estate Private Fund Group (REPFG) at Credit Suisse. Pamela was a founding member of REPFG at Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette (DLJ), which subsequently merged with Credit Suisse in 2000. Pamela has helped a broad range of sponsors in Europe, North America and Asia access capital from institutional investors in both the US and Australasia. Prior to joining DLJ, Pamela was a Principal and member of Prudential’s real estate and private equity marketing and client service team, responsible for managing relationships with major corporate and public pension funds. Prior to Prudential, Pamela was Managing Director, Portfolio Management with GE Capital Investment Advisors. There she was responsible for design and management of real estate portfolios for institutional clients. Before becoming a portfolio manager, Pamela spent ten years in real estate acquisitions and underwriting, and two years as a city planner.
• Fredrik Elwing, who will continue to be based in London, has been Managing Director and Group Co-Head of the Real Estate Private Fund Group at Credit Suisse. Fredrik joined Credit Suisse in 2001, where he was responsible for overseeing the group’s activities in Europe, including the origination and marketing of a broad range of real estate funds focused on Europe, Asia and North America. Prior to joining Credit Suisse, he spent three years with the capital markets group of Security Capital where he was responsible for the placement of ProLogis (PLD) pan-European properties fund, a ground breaking transaction in the logistics sector in 1999. Prior to that, Fredrik spent three years at Lehman Brothers and eight years with CS First Boston, marketing equities and equity related products to institutional investors in Europe and the Middle East.
Greenhill & Co., Inc. is a leading independent investment bank focused on providing financial advice on significant mergers, acquisitions, restructurings, financings and capital raising to corporations, partnerships, institutions and governments. It acts for clients located throughout the world from its offices in New York, London, Frankfurt, Tokyo, Toronto, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Los Angeles and San Francisco, with additional offices in Sydney and Melbourne upon the completion of the pending acquisition of Caliburn, expected in April, which was announced last week.
###