William Blair & Company has added Christopher Lane as a new managing director in the investment banking division’s technology group. Mr. Lane most recently worked at Jefferies & Company, where he was a managing director. He joins William Blair’s San Francisco tech banking team along with recently hired managing directors Robert Abbe and Per Stahl, both of whom were also previously with Jefferies.
“To best serve our global clients, we have continued to develop and invest in experienced professionals with deep sector expertise and relationships with key players in the industry,” said Brent Gledhill, William Blair’s global head of investment banking. “Silicon Valley represents a market where we have a successful 20-year client-service track record of raising growth financing for emerging companies and providing strategic M&A advisory services. Adding Chris’s extensive software experience enables us to provide even greater industry expertise and transaction capabilities for our current and future clients.”
Mr. Lane has been a leader in investment banking and technology for more than 15 years. He has led many transformative M&A and capital market transactions in the technology sector, including the sales of Paradigm to Apax Partners; Radiant Systems to NCR; Layer 7 to CA; and i2 to IBM. Since 2010, Mr. Lane has successfully completed 11 advisory and financing assignments representing more than $4 billion in transaction value. Before joining Jefferies in 2003, Mr. Lane worked for Broadview International and Deutsche Bank. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University and an MBA from Northwestern University.
William Blair’s technology group consists of 30 bankers globally and has completed more than 50 technology transactions for clients since January 2012 and the group’s software practice has participated in more than 30 SaaS capital markets transactions. In addition, the software team has closed more than 30 M&A transactions since 2010, representing more than $4.4 billion in transaction value.
William Blair & Company is a global investment banking and asset management firm headquartered in Chicago. The firm has offices in 12 other cities including London, New York, Shanghai, and Zurich (www.williamblair.com).
© 2013 PEPD • Private Equity’s Leading News Magazine • 7-17-13
