Frank Quattrone keeps writing his second act.

Qatalyst Partners LP -- the advisory boutique launched by the Silicon Valley investment banking star who faced and then escaped obstruction of justice charges -- is hiring Jean Tardy-Joubert to head a new London office. The well-regarded former head of the European technology group at Merrill Lynch & Co,, Tardy-Joubert, 39, plans to recruit several more bankers in the coming weeks.

"We're going to open an office in London, probably in Mayfair, in March, with four to six professionals. In the next year or two I anticipate we will have around 10. It's a good time to be hiring," says Tardy-Joubert, whose new title is head of European investment banking. Before he joined Merrill in 2005, Tardy-Joubert worked with Quattrone for several years, first at Deutsche Bank AG in the 1990s and then at Credit Suisse First Boston.

Qatalyst is unlikely to pursue many small companies in Europe. Last year it advised on deals such as NXP Semiconductors Netherlands BV's $2 billion sale of its wireless business to STMicroelectronics NV, and in December it advised on the €218 million ($275 million) sale of Wavecom Elektronik AG to Sierra Wireless Inc.

Tardy-Joubert is realistic about prospects for this year as the recession deepens, but like other boutique bankers he sees opportunity in the travails of bulge-bracket firms -- or what's left of them. "This year won't be the best year ever for M&A, but a number of tech companies are cash-rich and they will make moves in due course," Tardy-Joubert says. Several boutiques have snapped up experienced bankers in recent months. Robert Gillespie, a former global co-head of investment banking at UBS, emerged from a brief retirement to join Evercore Partners Inc.'s London office in February. And Quattro Partners LLP, a new London firm established by Michael Tory, former head of U.K. investment banking at Lehman Brothers Inc., has just hired Benoit d'Angelin, an erstwhile head of European investment banking at Lehman, from hedge fund Centaurus Capital Ltd.