Morgan Stanley Poaches UBS Healthcare Banker Jim Forbes

By Cara Lombardo 

Morgan Stanley has hired longtime health-care investment banker Jim Forbes away from UBS Group AG, as deal activity in the sector booms.

In his new role, which he is expected to assume in the fall, Mr. Forbes will be a vice chairman in Morgan Stanley's investment bank, according to people familiar with the matter. He'll likely continue working with healthcare-services and private-equity clients.

Health care is the second-busiest segment for mergers so far this year, with $362.3 billion of deals, according to Dealogic. Morgan Stanley has advised on the two marquee deals in health care: Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.'s roughly $74 billion acquisition of Celgene Corp. and AbbVie Inc.'s $63 billion purchase of Allergan PLC. Mr. Forbes has historically advised clients in the healthcare-services sector, which includes everything from managed-care companies to hospitals and labs.

His clients have included Anthem Inc., Ventas Inc., Bain Capital and KKR & Co. In 2006, he worked on the $21.3 billion acquisition of hospital operator HCA Inc. by an investor group including Bain and KKR, a deal that ranks as one of the largest leveraged buyouts ever.

Mr. Forbes worked at Merrill Lynch and then Bank of America Corp. before joining UBS as a vice chairman roughly six years ago.

UBS has endured a string of departures in its investment bank, including that of Andrea Orcel, who ran the division before he left to become chief executive of Banco Santander SA. The Spanish bank ended up canceling the appointment over a dispute involving compensation.

Write to Cara Lombardo at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 25, 2019 17:40 ET (21:40 GMT)

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