Perella Is Said to Plan Paris Office in French Advisory Push
Perella Is Said to Plan Paris Office in French Advisory Push
(Bloomberg) -- Perella Weinberg Partners, the investment bank founded by Joe Perella and Peter Weinberg, plans to open an office in Paris, its first in continental Europe, to expand the French advisory business, according to people familiar with the matter.
The New York-based firm is scouting for a location in France’s capital and plans to hire a handful of senior dealmakers, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the plan isn’t public. David Azema, a partner who joined last year, will lead the French advisory business, the people said. The Paris office is expected to open in coming months and aims to bring the firm closer to the country’s largest companies, the people said.
A spokesman for the firm declined to comment.
Perella Weinberg, which has been hiring from larger rivals and expanding to new locations, this week announced the addition of Alex Wilmot-Sitwell and Matthew Smith as partners to strengthen its U.K. and European advisory franchise. The firm, which opened new offices in Los Angeles and Chicago in recent years, reached a deal in 2016 to merge with Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. as part of its expansion plans.
Perella Weinberg has worked on some major deals in Europe this year from its European hub in London. It advised on EON SE’s agreement to acquire Innogy SE from rival RWE AG as part of a complex asset and share swap that helped transform Germany’s energy industry. It also advised Finnish utility Fortum Oyj on its plans to buy EON’s legacy fossil-fuel and trading business Uniper SE.
To contact the reporters on this story: Aaron Kirchfeld in London at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Sonali Basak in New York at sbasak7@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Aaron Kirchfeld at akirchfeld@bloomberg.net, Steve Dickson, Mary Romano
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