J.P. Morgan taps Rossoff for media
Rossoff, who left Schroder in May, started at the firm's New York office Monday. He is a managing director, focusing on building up the firm's relationships with clients in the media industry, Morgan said.
"There aren't enough grown-ups in this business. Mack is a grown-up, and so let's get more grown-ups who can call on companies with credibility and experience and knowledge," said Nick Paumgarten, a managing director at Morgan who heads the firm's mergers and acquisitions department.
The hiring is also the latest sign of Morgan's effort to build up its investment banking effort in entertainment. The firm has had some notable successes, particularly by becoming financial adviser to Kirk Kerkorian and Seven Network in their acquisition of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer last year.
Morgan subsequently syndicated the bank debt on the acquisition and advised on MGM's acquisition of Orion Pictures. Morgan is a co-lead manager in MGM's stock offering.
"We are bulking up in media and entertainment. We have been steadily growing our business in this area, and this is more evidence of that," said Jim Rutherfurd, a managing director at Morgan who oversees the media group.
Rutherfurd and Paumgarten both worked with Rossoff at First Boston, where he was employed from 1982-88. He subsequently joined Wasserstein Perella in 1988, Dillon Read in 1992 and Schroder Wertheim in 1995.
