DC Advisory Hires Rothschild Mergers and Acquisitions Veteran
The investment bank owned by Japan’s Daiwa Securities Group has made 27 senior hires in the past two years even as the overall M&A market has slowed
DC Advisory has hired the former global co-head of business services investment banking activity at Rothschild & Co., the 27th senior appointment made by the boutique investment bank in just two years, according to a statement seen by The Wall Street Journal.
Dan Skolds joins as a New York-based managing director in DC Advisory’s business & tech-enabled services team, which advises businesses and their private-equity sponsors on capital raising and mergers and acquisitions, the statement said. He joins Managing Directors John Lanza and Jordan Finkler along with a team of 50 bankers globally.
The team has a broad remit, covering 19 subsectors ranging from information technology services to transport and logistics and business process outsourcing, according to the bank’s website. Its clients include midmarket buyout shops Gallant Capital Partners and Mobeus Equity Partners, as well as the private-equity investment arm of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, according to the bank’s website.
Skolds has advised on more than $40 billion of M&A transaction volume in his 30-year career, which includes stints at Rothschild, J.P. Morgan, RBC Capital Markets and Credit Suisse, the statement said.
DC Advisory has made growing its U.S. business a strategic priority as part of a goal to become “the premier mid-market investment bank, globally,” according to previous statements from Hiroki Ikeda, deputy head of global investment banking at the bank’s parent company, Daiwa Securities.
Earlier this week, DC Advisory announced the hiring of Stan Holtz, a 30-year veteran from Truist Securities, to lead its U.S. telecom and digital infrastructure services team. In March, the bank brought in Managing Directors Anthony Edwards and Hannah Schofield from investment bank CIBC World Markets and asset manager BlackRock, respectively, to launch a U.S. infrastructure business.
The bank has a presence in Europe and in Japan, the home market of its parent. It ranked seventh in data provider Dealogic’s list of the most active banks in European private equity during 2022, advising on 18 deals with a value of $2.6 billion.
DC Advisory’s aggressive growth comes during a prolonged slump in M&A activity caused by a combination of factors, including macroeconomic uncertainty, higher interest rates and more expensive debt financing. The total value of M&A deals announced globally fell to $3.61 trillion, a 37% decline from 2021’s record high, The Wall Street Journal reported in January, citing data provider Refinitiv.