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Investment banking firm Fennebresque & Co. is based in Charlotte, N.C., but the idea to launch the firm sprang up on a golf course in Scotland.
Eight members of the Fennebresque family, many of them investment bankers, celebrated the 60th birthday of John Fennebresque Sr. in 2007 at Loch Lomond, a club near Glasgow.
The party included his son, John Fennebresque Jr., and his brother, Kim Fennebresque, a Wall Street veteran featured in the best-selling book "Barbarians at the Gate." The golf, dining and drinks lent themselvesto "a lot of discussions about life in general, careers especially," recalled the younger Fennebresque. And some of those conversations about career paths led to the creation of a banking boutique bearing the family name that opened its doors a year later.
Nearly three years after founding it, John Fennebresque Jr. said business is brisk with the firm advising companies on mergers as well as corporate financings. "Our pipeline has exploded," he told IDD in a recent interview. "Part of it is due to the market and part of it is a natural development since we started in June 2008."
Fennebresque & Co. started out with three people and has expanded to 12. It plans to add four dealmakers - two senior bankers and two analysts - by June.
The firm has been able to cash in on the Fennebresque name, well known throughout the Southeast, and the large available talent pool in Charlotte, North Carolina's largest city. John Fennebresque Sr. and Kim Fennebresque - the latter advised his nephew early on in such matters as compensation and governance - both sit on the firm's advisory board, and the elder John Fennebresque is advisory board chairman.
Fennebresque & Co., which has advised businesses on 275 transactions as of last week, was able to snare talent that was laid off and professionals who were unhappy working for large banking firms.
"When many of the Wachovia jobs disappeared and some Bank of America jobs moved to New York, a lot of the people who did these jobs wanted to stay in Charlotte," said John Fennebresque Sr., a member of McGuireWoods' executive committee who has represented major...