Harris Williams & Co. has opened a new office in Germany as part of the firm’s continued international expansion. This is the firm’s second European office opened in the past three years and follows the opening of a London office in December 2009.
“While many other firms are scaling back, we believe now is the time to grow,” said Chris Williams, co-founder of Harris Williams & Co. “Our firm has performed exceptionally well despite market turmoil and the expansion into Germany offers a tremendous opportunity for us to continue to build our platform.”
The Frankfurt office will be led by Managing Director Jeffery Perkins and will focus on M&A transactions across Europe. “Jeff knows the European market, has incredible experience closing cross-border transactions across Europe and will be a terrific complement to our firm,” said Hiter Harris, co-founder of Harris Williams & Co. “Our expansion will help us continue to best serve our clients and gain additional access to buyers worldwide.”
Mr. Perkins has 19 years of investment banking experience in Germany. He joins Harris Williams from Daiwa Corporate Advisory (formerly Close Brothers Germany), where he was responsible for cross-border assignments in and out of German speaking markets. He has advised on sell-side M&A, acquisition, public takeover, pre-IPO and restructuring mandates across a variety of sectors including automotive, flow control, energy and power, electronic equipment and capital goods, among others. He has also closed more than thirty cross-border M&A transactions involving Asian, European and U.S. companies. While at Close Brothers, he established and led the European Automotive and Flow Control Groups and was responsible for the Industrials team in Germany. Mr. Perkins’ most recent transactions include the sale of Blohm + Voss Industries for STAR Capital to SKF Group (Sweden); the sale of Coperion GmbH for Deutsche Beteiligungs AG to Hillenbrand, Inc. (US); and the sale of Phönix-Strack Valve Group for AXA Private Equity to Curtiss Wright (US).
Harris Williams & Co. provides sell-side and acquisition advisory, restructuring advisory, board advisory, private placements and capital markets advisory services. With the opening of the Frankfurt office, Harris Williams & Co. will have eight offices across the US and Europe and approximately 215 employees. The firm is part of the PNC Financial Services Group (NYSE:PNC). Harris Williams & Co. is headquartered in Richmond, VA (www.harriswilliams.com).
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 6-12-13
