Morgan Stanley Promotes Several U.S. Technology Bankers

(Bloomberg) -- Morgan Stanley has promoted several technology investment bankers to be the next generation of leadership at one of the investment bank's most important franchises.

The New York-based firm has named Dave Chen co-head of global technology investment banking, alongside current co-heads Michael Grimes and Drew Guevara, according to a memo reviewed by Bloomberg News. A representative for Morgan Stanley confirmed the contents of the memo.

Owen O'Keeffe is now co-head of global technology M&A, joining Mike Wyatt and Anthony Armstrong. Pedro Costa will now be sole head of North American technology M&A.

Kate Claassen was appointed head of West Coast technology, and she'll remain co-head of global internet along with Umi Mehta. Bill Frauenhofer has been named head of West Coast technology and will also stay head of global semiconductors.

The bank said it had also started an initiative called disruptive commerce and technology to pursue opportunities in e-commerce and direct-to-consumer retail. Other banks have formed similar groups as the lines between internet and consumer companies start to blur.

Tech banker Kyle Corcoran, along with Farid Foroughi in the global consumer retail group, will be co-head of the initiative, the memo said.

Morgan Stanley has advised on tech deals including Nvidia Corp.'s $40 billion deal for Arm Ltd. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s $35 billion takeover of Xilinx Inc. It also advised Cloudera Inc. on its $5.3 billion deal to go private earlier this year.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.