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LionTree hires Luther to boost tech M&A efforts

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Luther was at Morgan Stanley for more than 15 years

By Milana Vinn

Oct 16 (Reuters) - LionTree, the boutique investment

bank led by prolific dealmaker Aryeh Bourkoff, has hired

investment banker Ankur Luther from Morgan Stanley as it looks

to capture more fees from advising on technology deals.

Luther, who joined LionTree this week and will be based in

New York, will spearhead its efforts to win more market share

from technology investment banking, a spokesperson for the bank

told Reuters.

Primarily focused on dealmaking in the media and

entertainment industries, LionTree is attempting to compete

better against rival boutique banks such as Moelis, Lazard, PJT

Partners, and Qatalyst Partners and win more high-profile deal

mandates.

LionTree is looking to further bolster its technology deals

business in the coming months by recruiting more top bankers who

have experience in advising on deals in sectors such as software

and internet.

In his new role, Luther will work closely with LionTree's

other senior technology dealmakers, co-founder Ehren Stenzler

and ex-UBS banker Antal Runneboom.

Luther previously spent more than 15 years at Morgan

Stanley, where he worked on several high-profile mergers and

acquisitions in the technology sector, including Red Hat's $34

billion sale to IBM ( IBM ) in 2018, Microsoft's $26.2 billion

takeover of LinkedIn in 2016, and GitHub's $7.5 billion sale to

Microsoft in 2018.

Prior to Morgan Stanley, Luther had stints at Goldman Sachs

and IBM ( IBM ), according to his LinkedIn profile.

New York-based LionTree was launched in 2012 by Bourkoff and

Stenzler, who were both senior bankers at UBS Group.

Since its founding, LionTree has grown to become a prolific

advisor to large media and telecommunications companies and has

worked on several landmark deals involving the likes of AT&T ( T )

, Charter Communications ( CHTR ), and Verizon

Communications ( VZ ).

LionTree has advised on more than 270 transactions worth

more than $800 billion. It recently advised on the $13.1 billion

takeover by Blackstone and Permira of online classifieds company

Adevinta, MGM's $8.45 billion sale to Amazon.com ( AMZN ), and

the sale of information technology firm Presidio to buyout firm

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.

LionTree was among the banks that worked on DirecTV's deal

to buy EchoStar's satellite television business including Dish

TV in September.