Arma Partners has expanded its Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) practice, with Buddy Blaha and Kevin Moore joining the firm’s US team, and Jan Helle, Richard Hooke and David Smith joining the firm’s European office
Blaha has over 25 years of transaction experience, both as advisor and principal. Buddy was previously a Managing Director in the Technology M&A Group at Lehman Brothers, where he spent 16 years, was a founding member of the Software investment banking group and led over 200 transactions for companies such as Alcatel, The Carlyle Group, US Interactive, Galileo International, IBM and LG Group. He joins Arma’s US team from Newell Rubbermaid Inc. where he was President of Corporate Development and M&A. Blaha holds a B.S. degree from the University of Virginia.
Helle joins Arma in London from Morgan Stanley, where he spent the past 8 years covering and executing transactions for clients including Telenor, Tele2, VimpelCom, BSkyB, Pearson, eircom, Versatel, Millicom Cellular, Wind as well as leading private equity and Governmental clients. Prior to Morgan Stanley, Jan spent 5 years in the investment banking division at Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein. Helle is an experienced M&A practitioner and has successfully led over $60bn of M&A transactions across sectors and geographies. A Norwegian citizen, he was educated in Norway, France, Belgium and the UK, where he attended the London School of Economics and gained a BSc, MSc and CEMS Masters degree.
Moore has 15 years of investment banking experience in the US, most recently with Barclays Capital’s Internet & Digital Media practice. Prior to this, Moore was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers and Citigroup. With Arma, Kevin will continue to focus on Internet and Digital Media clients in North America, where he has led Internet transactions involving Silver Lake Partners, KKR, Hellman & Friedman and TPG as well as Getty Images, Expedia, Skype, Google, Yahoo, Facebook and Naspers. Kevin holds an MBA from the Wharton Business School and a BA from the University of Michigan.
In order to strengthen its leadership position and further deepen its expertise in TMT, Arma is expanding into the Technology-heavy Aerospace & Defence sector, through two senior additions to its team.
Hooke joins Arma from RBS, where he was Global Head of Aerospace & Defence. Formerly a Partner at Oliver Wyman and Global Aerospace & Defence leader at PwC, he has spent 18 years advising clients including EADS, BAE, Boeing, Philips, ABB, Korea Aerospace, Safran, Elbit, Denel, Finmeccanica, Saab, Rheinmetall and Bombardier as well as investors such as 3i, Bridgepoint and Carlyle. Previously, Hooke spent 14 years at BAE, where he managed three Military Aircraft sites before running the Group CEO’s office and restructuring its Regional and Corporate aircraft businesses. Richard holds an MBA from Kingston University, is a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, a visiting lecturer at the UK Defence Academy and a member of the Civil Aviation Authority Future Airspace Strategy team.
Smith was previously a Managing Director within the M&A divisions of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Citigroup and, most recently, RBS. He has 20 years’ advisory experience and has advised on over USD120bn of M&A transactions. He has led many cross-border assignments across various industries and has extensive public M&A experience. After graduating from Exeter University, Smith qualified as a Chartered Accountant with Coopers & Lybrand Deloitte in London and was seconded to Hong Kong with KPMG prior to starting his banking career with Morgan Grenfell & Co.
