June 9 (Reuters) - Ken Moelis will step down as chief

executive officer of his investment bank, Moelis & Co ( MC ),

handing over the reins to his longtime partner Navid

Mahmoodzadegan.

Moelis will become executive chair, effective October 1, the

bank said in a statement on Monday. Co-founder and co-president

Jeff Raich will become executive vice chair.

The leadership transition marks a significant milestone for

the bank, which has been led solely by Moelis since its founding

in 2007.

The veteran dealmaker, with a career spanning more than 40

years, is one of the most respected names on Wall Street. He was

once a banker to current U.S. President Donald Trump and played

a key role as a senior executive at UBS.

Moelis & Co ( MC ) is among a select group of pure-play investment

banks, dedicated primarily to offering advice instead of lending

or trading.

Succession at firms closely tied to their founding CEOs can

be tricky because of their personal influence. But Ken Moelis

expects to pull off the "smoothest transition ever in the

history of Wall Street", he said in an interview to the Wall

Street Journal, which first reported the move earlier in the

day.

"This is the right moment to elevate the next generation of

leadership and create further opportunities for internal

growth," he said in the statement.

Mahmoodzadegan, the CEO-designate, is the bank's co-founder

and currently serves as its co-president. A Harvard graduate, he

was an attorney before becoming an investment banker.

Between 2001 and 2007, he was the global head of media

investment banking at UBS, according to his LinkedIn profile.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Shilpi

Majumdar and Anil D'silva)