Source: IDD Magazine
 
Auto and industrial companies will seek growth via acquisitions, banker tells IDD
By Joshua Hamerman
 
Although Miller Buckfire & Co. is known primarily for its restructuring practice, the firm's newest managing director, Jason Anderson, will help lead the strategic advisory business, which offers M&A and capital-raising services.
 
Anderson will focus on clients in the general industrial and automotive sectors. "For me, the strong reputation of the firm and the independent advice aspect of working at a small boutique were big factors, and the strategic advisory business is a natural complement to the restructuring advisory business they've established here," Anderson told IDD. "For all those reasons it was a great opportunity."
 
All the managing directors in Miller Buckfire's strategic advisory group have a say in recruitment. "We've had a lot of growth over the past year and are looking to selectively hire and build as we move forward, just as we've done in the past," said Anderson, who works out of Miller Buckfire's New York office.
 
Anderson joined Miller Buckfire from Banc of America Securities, where he was head of automotive investment banking and covered senior clients from the diversified industrial sector. Prior to BofA, he worked for 12 years at Goldman Sachs, where he covered industrial clients. While at BofA and Goldman, Anderson advised on $60 billion in M&A transactions and helped raise $25 billion for clients. Anderson graduated from Principia College in 1988 with a BA in history and received his MBA in finance from Northwestern University's J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management in 1994.
 
Anderson, whose appointment was announced two weeks ago, and his colleagues expect to keep busy with M&A mandates. "People are still very cautious on the economy and how sustainable it will be, but once people get more comfortable with that it will likely translate into more activity on the M&A side."
 
Auto and industrial companies will look to grow after coming out of the downturn. "In my space, companies have done a very good job of getting costs in line after the severe economic contraction we've had," said Anderson. "The question going forward is whether there will be sustainable revenue growth as the economy improves. Part of revenue growth is organic and part of it is done via acquisitions, so as we come out of this companies will be looking to augment the top line through acquisitions."
 
Anderson's clients are primarily based in the U.S., though some are headquartered in Europe and Asia. "Companies have reacted quite aggressively with cost-cutting measures as the economy has contracted so severely over the last three to four quarters, so now they're thinking about how to get the top line going again and get revenue on the demand side to increase," he said. "This is true globally. Some of the Asian markets have picked up a little more quickly, but it's still an issue given the U.S. is such a huge market."