Morgan Stanley banker Antakly leaves to join PJT Partners: Reuters

Boutique investment bank PJT Partners Inc has added another former Morgan Stanley managing director, Michel Antakly, to its growing stable of senior advisers in London, a source familiar with the matter said on Wednesday.

French-Lebanese Antakly spent 28 years at Morgan Stanley, where he was a managing director in the M&A (mergers and acquisitions) division, handling commodities trading giant Glencore’s $45.8 billion merger with miner Xstrata in 2012, the largest M&A transaction that year.

PJT, which was spun off from private equity firm Blackstone Group LP in September 2015, was founded by another former Morgan Stanley M&A executive, Paul Taubman. It now employs 12 partners who joined from Morgan Stanley, making up 20 percent of the total.

Boutique firms, usually founded by senior dealmakers from large investment banks, have stolen market share from their bulge bracket rivals in recent years, with clients valuing their niche expertise and independent advice.

PJT listed on the New York stock market in 2015 and was one of the advisors for the $21 billion merger of packaging companies Rock-Tenn Co and MeadWestvaco Corp and telecoms group Altice NV’s $18 billion acquisition of Cablevision Systems Corp, among others.

PJT was not immediately available to comment.

News of the hire was first reported by the Financial Times.