Guggenheim Poaches Greenhill Bankers to Beef Up Europe Team

US advisory firm Guggenheim Securities is hiring several top digital infrastructure dealmakers from Greenhill & Co. to beef up its European presence amid a surge in deal activity in the sector.

(Bloomberg) — US advisory firm Guggenheim Securities is hiring several top digital infrastructure dealmakers from Greenhill & Co. to beef up its European presence amid a surge in deal activity in the sector. 

Pieter-Jan Bouten and Jonathan Dann are joining the bank in the summer as senior managing directors to expand its London-based investment banking business, according to a statement on Thursday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report.

Bouten was most recently a managing director at Greenhill and global head of telecom and digital infrastructure. He previously ran Greenhill’s UK office and its European telecom, media and tech franchise, according to his LinkedIn profile. Dann led European telecom and digital infrastructure at Greenhill. 

Guggenheim is also hiring Achille Del Pizzo as a managing director and Charlie Evans as vice president from Greenhill, with both joining in May. All four bankers will be based in the UK capital. 

“This investment represents a core component of our growth strategy,” Mark Van Lith, chief executive officer of Guggenheim Securities, said in the statement. 

The appointments mark the latest move by a US investment bank to bolster operations in Europe. Acquisitions of assets like wireless towers, fiber-optic networks and data centers have been heating up in the region as private equity firms seek steady, long-term returns. 

Deutsche Telekom AG and Vodafone Group Plc both agreed to sell multibillion-dollar stakes in their tower businesses to infrastructure investors last year. Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. reached a deal this month to acquire European data center operator Data4. Saudi Telecom Co. agreed to acquire a portfolio of tower assets from United Group on Thursday, in a deal valuing the portfolio at €1.22 billion ($1.3 billion). 

(Updates with confirmation from first paragraph.)

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