Bank of America poaches four top tech bankers to boost tech dealmaking, memos show

By Milana Vinn

NEW YORK, March 10 (Reuters) - Bank of America BAC.N has hired four veteran technology bankers as it looks to expand its market share in tech dealmaking, according to two internal memos seen by Reuters.

The bank has hired Gary Kirkham from Centerview Partners to become its executive vice chair focused on the range of sectors, Purna Saggurti, vice chair of Bank of America and chair of Global Corporate & Investment Banking, said in the memo to employees on Tuesday.

Bank of America also added Jason Rowe from Goldman Sachs GS.N to become Bank of America's global co-head of technology investment banking, according to another memo by Faiz Ahmad and Mike Joo, co-heads of Global Investment Banking, to employees on Tuesday.

The memo also announced the additions of Mahir Zaimoglu, who will join as head of TMT Mergers & Acquisitions (M&A) Investment Banking based in London, and Patrik Czornik, who will join as co-head of EMEA TMT Investment Banking based in London, from JPMorgan Chase.

Bank of America confirmed the contents of the memo, while Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan and Centerview declined to comment.

Rowe, based in New York, will co-lead Global Technology Investment Banking group along with Matthew Sharnoff, while Johnny Williams, the other co-head of the group, will be promoted to the Chair of Investment Banking role in the fall, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Kirkham will return to Bank of America after more than four years at Centerview, where he was a partner and helped build the firm’s technology practice on the West Coast. Before that, he spent more than two decades at Bank of America, most recently serving as global co-head of technology, media and telecommunications investment banking.

Rowe spent over two decades at Goldman Sachs, most recently as one of three co-heads of software investment banking, alongside Joe Porter and Brian Cayne, who joined Goldman Sachs from Qatalyst Partners.

The hires follow several senior departures from Bank of America’s technology group. Star banker Kevin Brunner, the bank’s former head of global technology, media and telecommunications investment banking, left last year to join JPMorgan as global chairman of investment banking and M&A.

Ric Spencer, another senior technology banker at the firm, departed for Citigroup in October.