- Healthcare investment bankers are in high demand, and many rainmakers are on the move.
- Firms like SVB Leerink, JPMorgan, and Deutsche Bank are all hiring top talent.
- Insider is tracking all of the big moves in the healthcare banking world.
Healthcare bankers are a hot commodity.
Charles Anderson, who leads Heidrick & Struggles’ corporate- and investment-banking recruiting business, earlier this year described healthcare searches as being “extremely, extremely active.” Banks are looking to staff up with specialists who can help companies at the intersection of healthcare and other tech verticals, such as payment technology.
Anderson’s firm, which handles mostly senior-level placements, has been looking for bankers specializing in biotech, pharma, financial sponsors, and mergers-and-acquisitions work in healthcare.
This year’s big healthcare deals have included Thermo Fisher Scientific’s announced acquisition of PPD, a clinical-research and laboratory-services company, in April for more than $17 billion cash plus $3.5 billion in net debt.
The next month Ginkgo Bioworks Inc. and the Soaring Eagle Acquisition Corp. special-purpose acquisition company announced a merger in a deal worth $17.5 billion. And healthcare supplier Medline’s buyout by a trio of private-equity firms marked the largest-ever PE purchase in healthcare.
SVB Leerink, a Boston-based subsidiary of SVB Financial Group, has been one of the firms making waves lately for a series of senior-level hires.
According to Anderson, the recruiter, a handful of midsize firms with strong equity-research and ECM capabilities “have been able to leverage those capabilities and good bankers to do an enormous amount of ECM deals in the emerging growth/biotech space, which is a very hot space.”
With poaching among big banks, a wave of hires by smaller shops, and even some people jumping to work at healthcare companies themselves, we’ve got the details on where senior dealmakers have departed lately and where they’ve ended up.
Helen Oesch
Previous firm: BMO Capital Markets
Previous role: Heatlhcare managing director
When their move was announced: August 10
Where they’re going: Deutsche Bank
What they’re doing now: Managing director and c0-lead the bank’s coverage of BioPharma clients in the Americas
Spencer Watts
Previous firm: Nomura
Previous role: Healthcare investment banking executive director
When their move was announced: August 10
Where they’re going: Deutsche Bank
What they’re doing now: Managing Director and head of healthcare facilities & clinical outsourcing coverage
Bradley Wolff
Previous firm: Citi
Previous role: Head of West Coast life sciences
When their move was reported: June 24
Where they’re going: Evercore
What they’re doing now: Senior managing director
Sources told Insider, which first reported the news of Wolff’s hire, that he’s bringing a small team of junior bankers from Citi with him, although the exact number is unclear.
Hank Yeh
Previous firm: Goldman Sachs
Previous role: Vice president
When their move was announced:June 24
Where they’re going: Evercore
What they’re doing now: Managing director
Ben Brown
Previous firm: Baird
Previous role: Managing director, head of global pharma services investment banking
When their move was announced: June 22
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Senior managing director with a focus on pharma services
Jon Swope
Previous firm: Bank of America
Previous role: Managing director in the global healthcare investment banking group
When their move was announced: June 21
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Managing director in healthcare investment banking focused on healthtech and digital health
Swope will be based in New York and will report to healthcare investment banking head Barry Blake, SVB Leerink said in a press release.
Ryan Kaeding
Previous firm: Piper Sandler
Previous role: Director
When their move was announced: June 8
Where they’re going: Raymond James
What they’re doing now: Managing director in MedTech
Kaeding will be based in Los Angeles and focus on advising clients in the medical devices space, Raymond James said in a press release. He brings experience from having advised on more than 65 MedTech transactions, the company added.
Bob Jackey
Previous role: Managing director in healthcare services, Citigroup
When their move was announced: June 16
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Managing director in healthcare services
SVB Leerink said in a press release that hiring Jackey will help “serve to expand SVB Leerink’s expertise in life sciences and healthcare technology.” Jackey will be based in New York and report to Barry Blake, global co-head of healthcare investment banking.
Chuck Adams
Previous firm: Goldman Sachs
Previous role: Partner
When their move was announced: June 2, 2021
Where they’re going: Citigroup
What they’re doing now: Vice chairman and global head of the newly-formed global healthcare, consumer & wellness “super group,” according to an internal memo reviewed by Insider.
Dino Dedić
Courtesy of Guggenheim Securities
Previous firm: Barclays
Previous role: Managing director in global healthcare banking
When their move was announced: May 17, 2021
Where they’re going: Guggenheim Securities
What they’re doing now: Senior managing director in healthcare investment banking, focusing on advising clients in pharmaceuticals and animal health, the firm said.
Christopher Gartin
Previous firm: Citigroup
Previous role: Managing director for healthcare investment banking
When their move was announced: May 21
Where they’re going: JPMorgan
What they’re doing now: Managing director for healthcare investment banking
Previously, Gartin has worked on deals for healthcare clients like Celgene Corp. in its $74 billion sale to Bristol Myers Squibb in 2019, Bloomberg reported.
Anurag Jindal
Previous firm: Bank of America
Previous role: Managing director in the healthcare-banking group, with a focus on the biotech sector
When their move was announced: May 20
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Senior managing director on the biopharma team
M. Toby King
Previous firm: Citi
Previous Role: Managing director and head of North America healthcare
When their move was announced: May 18
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Senior managing director in healthcare services
Priyanka Verma
Previous firm: HSBC
Previous Role: Managing director of healthcare investment banking
When their move was announced: May 13
Where they’re going: Deutsche Bank
What they’re doing now: Managing director and Americas head of pharma services and diagnostics division
Richard Singh
Previous firm: Gleacher Shacklock
Previous role: Partner
When their move was announced: May 11
Where they’re going: Piper Sandler
What they’re doing now: Managing director in healthcare investment banking
Singh will be based in London, the company said in a press release, adding that his addition reflects the firm’s “European healthcare investment banking growth strategy.”
Jack Bannister
Previous firm: Goldman Sachs
Previous role: Vice president of the healthcare equity-capital-markets team
When their move was announced: April 8
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Managing director on the equity-capital-markets team, focusing on healthcare and life-sciences companies
Ben Carpenter
Previous firm: Citi
Previous role: Global head of life-sciences M&A
When their move was announced: April 7
Where they’re going: JPMorgan
What they’re doing now: Cohead of healthcare M&A
In his new role at JPMorgan, Carpenter will help supervise deals focusing on biopharmaceuticals, Bloomberg reported in April, citing an internal JPMorgan memo.
Paul Tomasic
Previous firm: RBC Capital Markets
Previous role: Managing director and head of European healthcare
When their move was announced: April 7
Where they’re going: Houlihan Lokey
What they’re doing now: Managing director and head of European healthcare
Andrew Fineberg
Previous firm: MTS Health Partners
Previous role: Partner and head of royalty monetization services
When their move was announced: April 6
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Managing director of structured finance
Fineberg advises corporate, academic, and medical nonprofit institutions on royalty monetization and private credit, according to his official company bio.
Thaddeus Davis
Previous firm: HSBC
Previous role: Head of US healthcare investment banking
When their move was announced: April 1
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Senior managing director, leveraged finance
Barry Blake
Previous firm: Guggenheim Securities
Previous role: Senior managing director focused on advising healthcare-services companies
When their move was announced: February 16
Where they’re going: SVB Leerink
What they’re doing now: Global cohead of investment banking
Charlie Newton
Previous firm: Bank of America
Previous role: Cohead of healthcare investment banking in the Americas
When their move was announced: February 9
Where they’re going: Lyell Immunopharma
What they’re doing now: Chief financial officer
Jeffrey Thomas
Previous firm: Laborie
Previous role: Chief corporate-development officer
When their move was announced: May 28
Where they’re going: Piper Sandler
What they’re doing now: Managing director in healthcare investment banking, covering medtech and life-sciences tools and diagnostics
Did we miss someone? Share news and tips with Samantha Stokes at sstokes@insider.com, on Signal at 646-389-7866, or direct message on Twitter @stokessamanthaj. Contact Reed Alexander at ralexander@insider.com, on Signal at 561-247-5758, or direct message on Twitter @reedalexander.
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