Press Release, June 18, 2008
Citi today announced that Frank Yeary, Head of Global Mergers and Acquisitions, will vacate his position to assume a newly created Vice Chancellor post at the University of California, Berkeley.
Mr. Yeary, who has served on Berkeley's Board of Trustees for the past seven years, will be responsible for developing private/public partnerships between the university and business, directing major strategic initiatives, providing strategic advice to the Chancellor and his senior staff and leading the development of the university's long-range financial plan.
John Havens, CEO of Citi's Institutional Clients Group, said, "Citi has a long history of top talent moving on to further distinction through public service. While we are sorry to lose Frank, we admire and support his willingness to help advance important issues around higher education and public/private partnerships. I look forward to being the beneficiary of Frank's wise counsel."
In the five years Mr. Yeary has led Citi's M&A team, the business has become one of the leading advisory businesses in the world, consistently ranking among the top teams around the globe. Mr. Yeary has worked on many marquee deals during his investment banking career including the merger of BellSouth and AT&T, the private equity-sponsored acquisition of HCA Inc., the merger of Sprint Corp and Nextel, the acquisition of AT&T Wireless by Cingular Wireless and Westinghouse's purchase of CBS, among others.
Raymond J. McGuire, Co-Head of Global Investment Banking, said, "Frank was a key architect of our team, which is extremely well positioned to provide mergers and acquisitions advise around the world, particularly as the pace of cross-border deals quicken. The significant transactions Citi has advised on in recent weeks are testament to the leading global M&A franchise Frank helped built and lead at Citi."
Citi advised on a series of landmark transactions that were announced in recent weeks. Included among them:
- Citi was exclusive advisor to Residential Capital LLC when its subsidiary GMAC-RFC Europe Ltd agreed to sell its German mortgage broker operation, Creditweb Deutschland GmbH, to Augur Financial Opportunity Fund SICAV.
- Citi was lead financial advisor to Electronic Data Systems on its sale to Hewlett-Packard for $13.9 billion.
- Citi was joint advisor to Sprint Nextel Corporation on the $14.5 billion combination of its next generation wireless broadband business with Clearwire Corporation.
- Citi was exclusive financial advisor to Tribune Company when it agreed to a partnership with Cablevision Systems Corporation through which Cablevision will acquire approximately 97% of Newsday Media Group for $650 million.
- Citi advised Time Warner Inc. on the $45 billion separation of Time Warner Cable Inc., its 84% owned subsidiary. Citi was exclusive financial advisor to China Netcom on its $56 billion merger with China Unicom.
- Citi advised Alltel Corporation when Verizon Wireless reached an agreement with Alltel and Atlantis Holdings, LLC to acquire Alltel Corporation in a $28.1 billion cash merger.
In order to ensure an orderly transition of client and management responsibilities, Mr. Yeary will remain at Citi until mid-July before taking up his new role at Berkeley in August. The M&A team will report to Mr. McGuire until a replacement is announced in due course. Mr. McGuire has recently advised on the Time Warner Inc./Time Warner Cable Inc. separation deal and Hewlett-Packard's purchase of Electronic Data Systems.
Mr. Yeary said, "I have enjoyed tremendously my work in investment banking for more than 20 years, most of that time at Citi. I enthusiastically look forward to the opportunity to join the leadership team at one of the world's finest universities. It has been a consistent pleasure to work with such a high caliber of professionals over these years, and I am honored to have the opportunity to transfer the skills I've developed to my new role in public education."