NEW YORK, Sept 3 (Reuters) - Two Wall Street bankers are

joining Jasper Street Partners to build the firm's practice

helping clients defend against activist investors by identifying

vulnerabilities, navigating proxy contests and managing public

pressure campaigns.

Duncan Herrington and Peter da Silva Vint, who worked as

activism-defense bankers most recently at Moelis ( MC ) and

Barclays ( JJCTF ) respectively, are spearheading the new

business, Jasper Street executives told Reuters.

Herrington and da Silva Vint will be managing partners and

join founders Robert Main, Jessica Wirth Strine, Marc Lindsay

and Amy Hernandez Slowik, former Vanguard executives.

Started in 2020, the firm, which this month changed its name

from Sustainable Governance Partners, was conceived in a coffee

shop on Jasper Street in Media, Pennsylvania, and has offices in

Pennsylvania and New York.

"As the gray space between economic activism and issue

activism continues to converge, we see huge potential for an

adviser that can cross all of that terrain," Strine told

Reuters.

Herrington, who trained as a lawyer before entering banking,

left Moelis ( MC ) over the summer and previously worked at Raymond

James Financial. Da Silva Vint, who also holds a law degree and

an MBA, worked at Moelis ( MC ), overseeing governance at portfolio

companies for BlackRock ( BLK ) and, most recently, at Barclays ( JJCTF ).

The two men reunite at Jasper Street as demand picks up from

companies facing agitators like Carl Icahn and Nelson Peltz as

well as other interests like unions. A record number of activist

campaigns were launched in the first half of the year including

at Southwest Airlines, JetBlue and Walt Disney.

Jasper Street expects to form relationships to provide

year-round "offense" and "defense" support, Strine said, not

just crisis services.

Competitors include big banks like Goldman Sachs and

JPMorgan and independent firms such as Spotlight Advisors and

Strategic Governance Advisors.