SG to form Aussie buyout team

Rumours of an end to the leveraged buyout boom may be premature. Despite tightening credit spreads and more cautious lending practices, Societe Generale is one bank that is actually expanding its acquisition and leveraged finance team in the region.

The French bank has made three new hires to establish a buyout team in Australia: Steve Zuckerman from Barclays Capital, James Poulos from ANZ and Rodolphe de Tilly from Italian M&A boutique Banca Leonardo. The new team will be based in the bank's Sydney office.

"The creation of the new acquisition and leveraged team in Australia will enable the bank to pursue mandates to provide debt arranging, underwriting and bookrunning services to private equity firms and corporate clients," according to the firm's written statement.

Zuckerman joins as director of the new team and will work alongside Marc Frenkenberg, a director in the Hong Kong team. He will report to Pierre-Louis Auzel and Thierry Magnan, co-heads of the team for the Asia-Pacific region.

Poulos joins as an associate director and de Tilly as an analyst.