Greenhill & Co. (NYSE:GHL) announced two more
dealmaker hires on Wednesday, when the New York investment banking firm brought aboard Christopher Mize and Aaron Hoover as managing directors to focus on energy and establish an office in Houston, its 10th office.
Mize is well known to dealmakers in Houston. He was co-head of Bank of America Merrill Lynch's energy and power practice for the Americas and, before BoA's takeover, was co-head of Merrill's energy and power practice. He was at Merrill for 22 years in Houston, the last 10 as a managing director. Hoover worked in the energy group at Merrill in Houston for 13 years, becoming a managing director in 2005.
Mize has worked on a number of deals over the years. He advised Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc. on its $29 billion acquisition of Phelps Dodge Corp., Magnum Hunter Resources Inc. on its sale to Cimarex Energy Co. for $2.1 billion in stock and debt, worked on the offering/spinoff of Denver oil explorer Whiting Petroleum Corp. from Madison, Wis., utility Alliant Energy Corp., advised Unocal Corp. on its acquisition of Midland, Texas, oil and gas explorer Pure Resources Inc. for $440 million and assisted Burlington Resources Inc. -- now part of ConocoPhillips Co. -- on its acquisition of Canadian Hunter Exploration Ltd. for C$3.3 billion ($2.1 billion) in cash. (The Deal Pipeline subscribers can read more about Freeport-McMoRan's acquisition of Phelps Dodge
here and the Magnum Hunter sale to Cimarex
here.)
Mize joins other newbies at Greenhill in its boost to expand its investment banking business. Last month the firm announced that Vittorio Perona, a former banker at Dresdner Kleinwort, would join the firm as a managing director based in London to lead its European energy and utilities team. That same month, it also announced that Anand Jagannathan, also formerly at Dresdner Kleinwort, would join the firm as a managing director based in London to lead the firm's advisory team for the infrastructure sector in Europe, following its hire of Robert Collins, formerly of Morgan Stanley, as a managing director in its Chicago office in March to lead its advisory effort for the infrastructure sector in the Americas. And in April it said it hired Alejandro Przygoda and Steven Friedman, formerly of UBS, as managing directors in New York focused on the insurance sector and James Stewart, also of UBS, as a managing director focused on gaming, lodging and leisure in a newly established office in Los Angeles.
Greenhill is obviously intent on filling its ranks from the disarray -- and disappointments -- at some of the bulge bracket banks. -
Claire Poole
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