NEW YORK – Bank of America Corp. hired Anwar Zakkour from JPMorgan Chase & Co. as co-head of global telecommunications, media and technology investment banking, according to a memo obtained by Bloomberg.
Zakkour will remain based in New York, reporting to global head of investment banking Christian Meissner, according to the memo, whose contents were confirmed by a Bank of America spokesman. His co-head will be Chet Bozdog, currently head of global technology investment banking.
Zakkour, recently vice chairman of investment banking, follows top bankers such as Jim Woolery in leaving JPMorgan this year. Bank of America is in third place this year for advising on communications and technology deals globally, trailing only Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and JPMorgan.
A spokesman at JPMorgan declined to comment. The firm and Bank of America are the largest U.S. banks by assets.
Zakkour joined JPMorgan in 2005 and later advanced to global head of telecommunications, media and technology M&A before becoming vice chairman in 2011. He recently advised MetroPCS Communications Inc. on its merger with Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA, after earlier working on AT&T Inc.’s failed $39 billion takeover of T-Mobile USA.
Zakkour was part of the team that advised General Electric Co. on its two-stage sale of NBC Universal to Comcast Corp. Comcast first bought a 51 percent stake in the media company in 2011 and this year purchased the rest. His other significant deals include the restructuring and the merger that created Sirius XM Radio Inc. and News Corp.’s acquisition of Dow Jones & Co. in 2007.
