: Fenix Investors

Further expanding its presence in the U.S. investment banking arena, Societe Generale, U.S.A. has teamed up with the West Coast boutique Bannon & Co. in a joint venture to go after the media, entertainment and communications market.
A supervisory committee has been created to oversee the venture. The committee, which will be chaired by Curtis Welling, head of investment banking at SocGen, will also include the French bank’s managing directors in investment banking, Steven Baronoff and John Sheldon, and the two founding principals at Bannon & Co., Stephen Bannon and Scot Vorse.
Before starting up their Beverly Hills-based boutique, the two founders of Bannon were vps at Goldman, Sachs & Co. At Goldman, Bannon had been responsible for emerging growth, entertainment and media companies in Los Angeles. Before that, he had worked for three years in the firm’s M&A group in New York. Vorse had been a vp in Goldman’s corporate finance department, working out of both New York and L.A. and specializing in the financing of emerging growth companies.
This joint-venture gives us exclusive access to Bannon & Co.’s advisory practice while still allowing us to leverage its reputation, contacts and expertise on the West Coast,” explained Baronoff.
In the true spirit of a joint venture, both parties will market and execute transactions together,” added Vorse. “Forming a joint venture created the best incentive for both parties to create a powerful lasting long-term franchise.”