=WSJ BLOG/Deal Journal: Moelis & Co. Hiring Spree Keeps on Rolling in Europe

(This story has been posted on The Wall Street Journal Online's Deal Journal blog at blogs.wsj.com/deals.) By Dana Cimilluca DonÂ't tell Moelis & Co. that the outlook for M&A and other investment-banking services is fraught with uncertainty in Europe. The fledgling investment bank is hiring like it was 1999. On Tuesday, Moelis plans to announce it is hiring Alexandra Oldroyd as a managing director in its London office focusing on consumer-industry clients and working closely with Benoit Renon, another MD in Europe.

   Oldroyd, who will focus mainly on the food-and-beverage sector, has a somewhat unusual pedigree for a banker. For many years she has been a research analyst, most recently covering beverages at Barclays Capital, and before that at Morgan Stanley and Société Générale.

   The addition of Oldroyd, who will be a partner, brings the number of Moelis staff in Europe and the Middle East to roughly 90. Globally, MoelisÂ' staff now exceeds 460. That is a torrid rate of expansion for a firm that is only 3½ years old. Consider that Evercore Partners had 598 employees in SeptemberÂ--and it is 15 years old.

   Still, the apparent optimism underlying that growth isnÂ't hard to understand. Moelis, founded by former UBS honcho Ken Moelis, is coming off a strong year and has landed some high-profile deal mandates. It advised Hugh Hefner on his recent buyout of Playboy Enterprises, and in Europe advised NorwayÂ's Orkla on the sale of its Elkem silicon business to China National Bluestar Group. Moelis is no stranger to consumer deals, having advised Anheuser-Busch on its $52 billion sale to InBev in 2008.

   (Investors also seem to be bullish about the prospects of small, independent financial advisers, with shares of Evercore and Lazard rising sharply in the past six months.)

   For Oldroyd, making the transition to banker from analyst wonÂ't be without its challenges. Analysts are the nerds of investment banks, typically seen as most comfortable poring over spreadsheets. Bankers, on the other hand, live and die based on their ability to schmooze and win the favor of corporate bigwigs.

   Mark Aedy, who runs MoelisÂ' operation in the region, expressed optimism in an interview, saying Ms. Oldroyd has an impressive array of relationships and insights into the consumer industry.

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   January 25, 2011 07:58 ET (12:58 GMT)

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