OREANDA-NEWS. September 07, 2016. The mergers & acquisitions (M&A) business in the Investment Banking & Capital Markets Group (IBCM) is one of the fastest growing segments across Wells Fargo Securities. In order to continue building on that success, the organization has made significant senior appointments to their advisory team to enhance their abilities to serve customers.

David DeNunzio has joined as head of the Global M&A group. Together with Sam Farnham, an IBCM veteran and head of M&A for the Americas, they will lead the advisory business, reporting to Rob Engel, head of the Investment Banking & Capital Markets Group. DeNunzio is based in New York with Farnham based in Charlotte.

“We have seen tremendous growth in our M&A business as clients increasingly seek strategic advice to enhance the value of their businesses,” said Engel. “Our recent successes have included advising Verizon in its purchase of Fleetmatics and Telogis, TransCanada on its acquisition of Columbia Pipeline Group and Krispy Kreme on its sale to JAB Beech. We will look to leverage David and Sam’s expertise and leadership to build and deepen client relationships.”

Engel added, “David brings with him depth of experience that spans 35 years in investment banking and all aspects of financial advisory work. Coupled with Sam’s breadth of knowledge across the Wells Fargo platform and the domestic and North American M&A markets, we can bring another level of advisory solutions and intellectual capital to our clients, while growing our M&A business in a thoughtful and disciplined manner.”

Prior to joining Wells Fargo, DeNunzio was global chairman of Credit Suisse's Mergers & Acquisitions group, where he was employed for the last 27 years. He has extensive experience in all aspects of financial advisory services, including divestitures, buyer advisory services, mergers, recapitalizations, and takeover defense. He was also a senior vice president at Kidder, Peabody & Co. Incorporated.

As a 20-year veteran of Wells Fargo and its predecessor companies, Farnham has extensive experience in M&A with an expertise in the consumer and retail sector. He most recently served as the head of Middle Market Investment Banking Group, where he led the origination and execution efforts for middle market companies and financial sponsors, providing strategic advice and capital markets services. Prior to that role, he spent 13 years in the M&A group, serving in senior roles such as head of Consumer and Retail M&A. 

In addition to DeNunzio and Farnham’s appointments, Kristin Lesher has been promoted to lead the Middle Market Investment Banking Group, the position formerly held by Farnham. In her prior role, she led the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region for the Middle Market Investment Banking group. Lesher has had nearly a 20-year career at Wells Fargo Securities and its predecessor firms, originating and executing a broad range of M&A transactions including buy-side, sell-side and joint venture assignments, as well as equity and debt financings.

About Wells Fargo Securities

Wells Fargo Securities delivers a comprehensive set of capital markets products and services, including public debt and equity origination and distribution, investment research, interest rate, commodity and equity risk hedging, mergers and acquisitions advice, prime services, structured lending facilities and municipal bond origination. The institutional capital markets business is comprised of more than 4,200 team members in 50+ locations across the U.S., Europe and Asia.

About Wells Fargo

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a diversified, community-based financial services company with \\$1.9 trillion in assets. Founded in 1852 and headquartered in San Francisco, Wells Fargo provides banking, insurance, investments, mortgage, and consumer and commercial finance through more than 8,600 locations, 13,000 ATMs, the internet (wellsfargo.com) and mobile banking, and has offices in 36 countries and territories to support customers who conduct business in the global economy. With approximately 268,000 team members, Wells Fargo serves one in three households in the United States. Wells Fargo & Company was ranked No. 27 on Fortune’s 2016 rankings of America’s largest corporations. Wells Fargo’s vision is to satisfy our customers’ financial needs and help them succeed financially. Wells Fargo perspectives are also available at Wells Fargo Blogs and Wells Fargo Stories.