Alantra reinforces its global technology group with the hiring of cloud services and software specialists in the US

MADRID / SAN FRANCISCO / NEW YORK / BOSTON – Alantra, a global leader in investment banking and asset management, today announced that it has recruited four professionals to reinforce its global technology practice, including a team of three IT Services and Public Cloud specialists and a senior software banker.

Michael Lenoce (Managing Director, New York), Renee Shaening (Managing Director, San Francisco) and Joe Nau (Associate, Boston) have joined from MVP Capital, where they formed the investment banking technology team. In 2019, the team advised on eight deals for a total value of $830 million. Mr. Lenoce has advised on numerous M&A advisory, equity and debt transactions for leading technology and telecom clients. He has over 20 years of investment banking experience working with Enterprise Software & IT Services companies, with specific expertise in Managed Services, Public Cloud and Communication software/IoT sectors. Ms. Shaening has 18 years of investment banking and TMT research experience. She has provided M&A advisory and capital formation services to an array of Technology companies and has developed in-depth knowledge of the Public Cloud Software and Services, Managed Services and Communication Software sectors. 

Additionally, the technology team adds Dragan Manoev (Managing Director, San Francisco), an investment banking veteran with 20+ years of experience, who joined Alantra from Lazard’s TMT & Software team. During his time at Lazard, Mr. Manoev played a key role in expanding the firm’s client base among the largest players in this segment, participating in transformational M&A deals for clients such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, HP, VMware, SAP, Trimble Navigation, and Kofax, as well as a number of mid-market and emerging companies and investors across multiple software sectors and geographies including Telerik, Astute Solutions, Bluebeam among others. Mr. Manoev adds significant industry expertise and transaction experience in the Enterprise Software/SaaS, Cloud Computing & Infrastructure, Industrial Technology and IT Services sectors.

“We are thrilled to attract quality professionals such as Michael, Renee, Dragan and Joe to Alantra,” said John Emery, Managing Director and head of Alantra’s Technology practice. “They bring an extensive track record of transactions as well as deep domain expertise and relationships within the Software, IT Services and Public Cloud spaces to Alantra’s team. We believe there is a real opportunity to grow on their successes despite these challenging times,” he continued. “Their areas of expertise are poised to become even more important as companies look to accelerate migration to the cloud and invest in software-driven digital transformation.”

With these additions, Alantra’s Technology team numbers more than 30 bankers. 18 of the team members are based in the US, with the rest spread across offices in Europe, Asia and Latam. In the past 5 years, team members have completed over 150 transactions for a total combined deal value of more than $10 billion.

Alantra’s Technology group has proven expertise in six verticals with significant growth potential: Software & Data, Communications & Networking, Internet & Digital Media, Fintech, IT & Cloud Services and IoT. Although technology-related sectors are not immune from the effects of the current environment, many companies in these subsectors are seeing limited impacts on their businesses due to the increasing need for online alternatives, cloud services, and smart-city solutions.

Alantra’s global technology team has advised on over $2Bn of transactions since 2019, some notable transactions across its focus areas include:

• Internet & Digital Media: The sale of Saber Interactive to the Embracer Group for > $500m, which was one of the largest video game transactions in the world in the past two years
• IT & Cloud Services: The sale of Sol-Tec, one of Microsoft’s key Azure Partners in the UK, to IT Lab, provider of IT solutions for McLaren’s F1 laboratory
• Software & Data: The sale of Vivaticket, an integrated software company focused on ticket management, to Investcorp
• IoT: A Softbank investment in REEF Technology and the subsequent acquisition of Impark and Citizens Parking, creating the largest parking operator in the US and enabling a platform for last mile services
• Fintech: The sale of Shadow Financial, a SaaS/Fintech for Capital Markets Infrastructure player, to Broadridge
• Communications & Networking: The sale of VOIP Innovations, a CPaaS and Cloud Communications player, to Sangoma Technologies