Frank Quattrone, founder of tech-focused boutique Qatalyst Partners, has stepped down as CEO, making way for former Credit Suisse banker George Boutros to take the helm. Quattrone will assume the role of executive chairman, driving strategy and advising clients.
Frank Quattrone, founder of tech-focused boutique Qatalyst Partners, has stepped down as CEO, making way for former Credit Suisse banker George Boutros to take the helm.
Quattrone will assume the role of executive chairman, driving strategy and advising clients, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Boutros will therefore take on responsibility for the management of the San Francisco-based firm, which also has an office in London, while continuing to advise clients.
Qatalyst advised US chipmaker PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ:PMCS) on its takeover by Microsemi for US2.5bn, which closed this month. Previous clients include US-based wide area network (WAN) optimisation specialist Riverbed Technology, Comcast, Alcatel-Lucent and Motorola Mobility.
According to Qatalyst, Quattrone, who began his career with Morgan Stanley in 1977, and his teams have advised on more than 500 mergers and acquisitions, together worth over US$600bn, and on more than 350 financings that raised over US$65bn for tech companies internationally. Before founding the firm, he headed the global technology groups for Morgan Stanley, Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse.
He received a BS in economics from Wharton and an MBA from Stanford.
Boutros, for his part, re-joined Qatalyst in June 2010 after 12 years at Credit Suisse, where he most recently served as chairman of its global technology and healthcare groups and vice chairman of its corporate and investment banking department. Previously, he was a managing director at Deutsche Bank and head of its technology group’s M&A activities.
He holds a BS in civil engineering and MS in structural engineering from the University of California at Berkeley and his MBA from UCLA.
According to Dealogic, Qatalyst advised on 12 US tech mergers in 2015, worth a total US$33.5bn, giving it an almost 7% share of the deal market in the tech sphere.