Bank of America Appoints Iles, Poensgen to Lead European M&A

(Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Corp. has named Geoff Iles and Lukas Poensgen as co-heads of mergers and acquisitions in Europe, the Middle East and Africa. 

Iles, who joined Bank of America in 2003, has been head of UK M&A for the past seven years, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg. Poensgen, who’s been with the bank since 2010, has been leading M&A in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  

They’re taking over leadership of the business formerly run by Eamon Brabazon, who was appointed global co-head of M&A late last year. Iles will be based in London, while Poensgen will be in Frankfurt. A spokesperson for Bank of America confirmed the contents of the memo. 

The appointments come amid a nascent revival in dealmaking, with the value of EMEA transactions rising 11% this year to about $950 billion, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Bank of America ranks sixth among advisers on deals in the region with a 9.7% market share, the data show. 

Iles advised Centamin Plc last year on its £1.9 billion ($2.6 billion) sale to rival miner Anglogold Ashanti Plc. He also worked with International Paper Co. on its acquisition of British packaging group DS Smith Plc and advised Ascential Plc on its sale to Informa Plc. 

Poensgen advised earlier this year on PAI Partners’ sale of Apleona Group GmbH to Bain Capital, which valued the German facilities management company at around €4 billion ($4.7 billion). He also worked on the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority’s sale of a €2 billion stake in plastic container business IFCO to Stonepeak Partners.

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