Hawkpoint hires former Lazard banker Kiernan
CORPORATE finance advisory firm Hawkpoint has hired a prominent former Lazard merger and acquisitions banker, Peter Kiernan, who is known for helping to engineer US food group Kraft’s takeover of Cadbury.
Kiernan, who had been head of UK investment banking at Lazard, will become vice chairman at Hawkpoint, the firm said yesterday.
The British firm was snapped up by Canada’s Canaccord in December.
Kiernan hit the limelight when he advised Kraft on its Cadbury acquisition in 2010, a deal that sparked controversy when it led to the closure of a factory in southwest England, despite initial assurances it would remain open.
That mandate also cost Kiernan his bid to head up the Takeover Panel, which slammed the way the Cadbury acquisition was handled.
Kiernan had previously worked at Goldman Sachs and UBS Warburg.