Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) announced today the appointment of Benjamin Babcock as a Managing Director and Head of Restructuring for EMEA, effective immediately.
Mr. Babcock will be based in London and will be responsible for advisory and capital markets services for clients in restructuring situations. He will work in close coordination with Blake O’Dowd, Managing Director and Head of Restructuring for North America, whom the Firm hired in December of 2007 as part of a global initiative to offer clients a full array of financing and capital structure advisory solutions to complement our existing sales, trading and principal activities in this area. In his new role, Mr. Babcock will report to Gavin MacDonald, Managing Director and Global Head of Mergers & Acquisitions.
Commenting on the appointment, Mr. MacDonald said, "We are very pleased to have Ben joining Morgan Stanley. He has a wealth of experience in complex restructurings, an area where we anticipate significant activity in this challenging economic environment. The appointments of Ben and Blake demonstrate our commitment to building a leading global restructuring capability."
Mr. Babcock, 41, has 20 years of financial services experience. He joins Morgan Stanley from Merrill Lynch, where he was head of European restructuring for two years. He has also worked for Lazard in their restructuring group with responsibilities in Canada and Europe and was a partner at Ernst & Young, specializing in restructuring.
Mr. Babcock added, "I am excited to be joining Morgan Stanley. With its reputation and world class capabilities, Morgan Stanley represents an outstanding platform to deliver innovative restructuring solutions to our clients.”
Morgan Stanley is a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, investment management and wealth management services. The Firm's employees serve clients worldwide including corporations, governments, institutions and individuals from more than 600 offices in 33 countries. For further information about Morgan Stanley, please visit www.morganstanley.com.
Note to Editors:
Benjamin Babcock
Mr. Babcock holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto and is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario. From 2006 to 2008 he was a Managing Director at Merrill Lynch in London and head of their European restructuring group. From 2003 to 2006 he was a Managing Director at Lazard in their restructuring group covering Canada and Europe. Prior to that he was a partner at Ernst & Young in Canada where he worked for 14 years in restructuring. His transaction experience includes: Ontex, Meinl European Land, Parmalat, Telesystem, International Wireless, Kremikovtzi, TK Aluminum and Air Canada.
Blake O’Dowd
Mr. O’Dowd received a B.A. in Economics from Duke University in 1987 and an M.B.A. from the Stern School of Business at NYU in 1994. Prior to joining Morgan Stanley in December of 2007, he was a Managing Director in the Restructuring Group at Lazard Freres. In his eight years at Lazard, Blake worked on a broad range of complex Restructuring, M&A and corporate finance transactions. Prior to that, he was a Vice President in Alex Brown’s Restructuring Group.
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