Andrew Lipsky's December appointment to head Credit Suisse Group's Americas M&A effort marks a return to the banker's generalist roots after successive stints as a specialist.

Lipsky, 44, most recently headed the Americas industrials group between 2008 and 2009, where he advised Ingersoll-Rand plc in its $10.3 billion acquisition of Trane Inc. Before that, he ran the Americas consumer and retail groups, where his clients included United Rentals Inc., which he advised when it agreed to be bought by Cerberus Capital Management LP for $6.6 billion in 2007. The deal fell apart later that year when Cerberus walked away.

Lipsky began his career in 1992 as an M&A lawyer with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP but switched to banking in 1994 when he joined Dean Witter & Co.'s M&A group. He left for Credit Suisse First Boston's M&A effort in 1997. Three years later, he moved to London to set up a European takeover defense group for the firm.

His days as a generalist ended in 2002, when Credit Suisse, like many of its Wall Street rivals, disbanded its generalist M&A group in the wake of the tech bubble's collapse. Lipsky became head of the European industrials group, where he advised Indian steel company Ispat International NV in its acquisition of International Steel Group Inc. He moved back to New York in 2004 to briefly head the industrials M&A practice.

While in London, Lipsky worked closely with James Amine, who is now Credit Suisse's global co-head of investment banking and global head of markets. Amine relocated to New York at the start of this year and approached Lipsky about taking the Americas M&A spot, which was formerly held by Boon Sim.

Sim, 47, is now running global M&A, filling a vacancy left by Marc Granetz's move to become chairman of the investment bank. Sim had headed the Americas M&A group since its reconstruction in 2005. His notable deals include advising SunGard Data Systems Inc. on its $11.3 billion acquisition by a club of seven private equity firms led by Silver Lake Partners, which was announced in 2005. During Sim's tenure, Credit Suisse moved from the No. 7 spot on Dealogic's North American M&A league tables in 2004 to No. 1 in 2005. The firm placed fifth last year, while globally it ranked fourth, up from seventh in 2008.