Tech dealmaking is popping again in Silicon Valley, and it follows that the migration of investment bankers among big firms and boutiques is perking up too.

The latest high-profile move is Citigroup Inc.'s recent hiring of Ethan Topper, the co-founder of San Francisco technology boutique Union Square Advisors LLC, to lead its tech M&A efforts. The move marks a return to the big leagues for Topper, 47, who co-founded Union Square in 2007 after spending nearly a decade at Credit Suisse First Boston. As the head of global tech M&A at CSFB, Topper was a key member of Frank Quattrone's high-flying tech banking machine.

Mark Shafir, Citi's head of global M&A and co-head of the bank's global technology, media and telecom banking group, says discussions about hiring Topper had been ongoing for a while. But an increase in tech dealflow meant the time was right to officially bring on the banker, who is now Citi's global head of technology banking.

"We see a significant increase in M&A and equity activity," Shafir says. "We're in an upcycle in technology, and we wanted to strengthen our position." He notes that the number of transactions of all sizes so far this year is up significantly, especially in the cloud computing, Internet mobility and social networking sectors.

Shafir says he has worked across the table from Topper on several transactions over the years and was impressed with him. "Ethan has a very long track record that's a very good fit for us," he says.

Topper's hiring follows the departure of Michael Tedesco, Citi's former head of technology M&A, who was recently hired by Jefferies & Co. to be its tech M&A chief. By bringing in Topper, Citi creates local leadership for its Palo Alto, Calif., outpost, which is home to roughly a dozen managing directors and had been under the oversight of Ben Druskin, Citi's co-head of global technology, media and telecommunications (Topper reports to Druskin and Shafir). "Technology is incredibly specialized, especially in Silicon Valley," Druskin says. "We needed to find someone out there with the qualifications and fit and experience that Ethan brings to the table. He was by far the best external candidate we saw."

Last year, Citi recruited Paul Phillips, Bank of America Merrill Lynch's former head of tech investment banking, as a managing director of TMT in Palo Alto.

Like many other boutiques, Topper's old shop, Union Square, tended to bring big-bank experience to small and mid­tier companies striking deals on the low end of the price spectrum. For example, Union Square advised Web search service provider InfoSpace Inc. on its $8 million purchase of online retailer Mercantila Inc. last year.

While Topper's departure is a bit of a blow to Union Square, the boutique has a strong cache of talent. Its other co-­founder, Ted Smith, also was part of Quattrone's team at CSFB, where he headed software investment banking. Union Square is populated with several other former CSFB tech bankers, as well as some other big names, including its chairman Carter McClelland, the former chair of Banc of America Securities LLC and, before that, the chief of Deutsche Bank AG's U.S. operations. --Olaf de Senerpont Domis

"Restructuring is countercyclical to M&A, and Lloyd's hire is part of the firm's long-term commitment to expanding and deepening its restructuring advisory business across the respective cycles," says David Ying, senior managing director and co-head, with William Repko, of Evercore's restructuring practice. Before joining Evercore in 2005, Ying was a name partner at what was then known as Miller Buckfire Ying & Co. LLC.

Evercore's restructuring group, staffed by more than two dozen advisers, has worked on some of the largest bankruptcies and restructurings in history, including CIT Group Inc. and General Motors Corp. Last year, it stepped into commercial real estate restructuring and M&A with its acquisition of MJC Associates LLC for an undisclosed sum.

Sprung, 41, says Evercore presented him the opportunity to join an investment bank with global reach, as well as growing institutional equities and investment management businesses. He spent 10 years at Miller Buckfire, leading restructuring, financing and advisory assignments.

One of the most memorable was the four years he worked, beginning in 2004, on the Chapter 11 restructuring of Interstate Bakeries Corp., now Hostess Brands Inc., best known as the maker of Twinkies and Wonder Bread, and according to Sprung, "a complicated case for a company beset by operational issues." After "years of evaluating alternatives and intense negotiations," Sprung helped bring together the company, labor unions, creditors and a new investor, private equity firm Ripplewood Holdings LLC, to agree on a restructuring solution.

Sprung also led the out-of-court restructuring of Advanstar Communications Inc. in 2009, "which garnered 100% support of creditors and preserved significant value for all stakeholders while avoiding any adverse impact on operations."

Before Miller Buckfire, Sprung, who graduated from Harvard Business School, spent seven years at Merrill Lynch & Co., where he structured, originated and traded debt derivatives and commercial real estate products.

Evercore has been on a hiring tear. Last month, its corporate advisory group hired Raymond Strong III, formerly of Goldman, Sachs & Co., as a senior managing director to focus on energy companies. In March, it added UBS' former global head of software and enterprise banking Eric Mandl as a senior managing director to advise technology, software and Internet companies. --Michael Rudnick

As a former bank CEO and former superintendent of banks for the state of New York, Derrick Cephas has been both the regulated and the regulator. Now he's bringing those experiences to Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP as head of the law firm's new financial institutions regulatory practice group.

It's a "very interesting time on the bank regulatory scene," says Cephas, 59. "In the aftermath of the recession, we have had a significant number of bank failures and quite a number of banks left in weakened states," which Cephas says will drive consolidation. But banks seeking to acquire, be acquired or to raise capital will have to do so within a new regulatory regime governed by stricter capital guidelines, he explains.

That's where Weil's new practice group comes in. The New York firm previously did not have a dedicated practice focusing on bank consolidation and regulation, relying instead on attorneys in its private equity and mergers and acquisitions groups to staff bank deals. The firm hopes to expand the new financial institutions regulatory group with both internal talent and outside hires, says Cephas.

Cephas spent the last five years as president and CEO of Amalgamated Bank in New York, which is owned by the labor union Service Employees International Union. He left in March and was succeeded by former J.C. Flowers & Co. LLC managing director Edward Grebow.

"We had a small loss in 2010 -- around $1 million -- but the bank actually performed quite well in the recession," Cephas says, noting that it didn't receive any funding from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program. Amalgamated, which has about $4.5 billion in assets, has a total risk-based capital ratio of nearly 12%, exceeding the 10% needed to be considered well capitalized by regulators.

Before Amalgamated, Cephas spent about 12 years as a partner with Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP, where, among other things, he served as Amalgamated's longtime outside counsel. Prior to that, Cephas policed New York's state-chartered banks during a rocky period that somewhat mirrored the landscape today. He was the state's superintendent of banks from 1991 to 1994 -- "the tail end of the savings and loan crisis," he says.

Just as in the current cycle, banks in the post S&L period "had to rehabilitate themselves, raise new capital and trim back operations until the industry healed," Cephas says. This time around, Cephas hopes to be part of that rehabilitation process. --M.R.