EVERCORE, the US corporate finance boutique, has poached two senior investment bankers to boost its London division.

Ian Ferguson is quitting Merrill Lynch to join, and Edward Banks is set to make the move from JP Morgan Cazenove.

At Merrill, Ferguson focused on the aerospace, engineering and defence sectors and was involved in the flotation of Qine-tiq, EADS’ buyout of BAE’s Air-bus stake and the BAE/VT shipbuilding joint venture.

Banks is a specialist in the technology, media and telecoms sector. He recently advised Tele-fonica on the sale of Airwave, Babcock & Brown on its acquisition of Eircom, First Group on its acquisition of Laidlaw, and Stanley Leisure on its takeover by Genting.

Bernard Taylor, head of Evercore’s London office, said: “Our business is based on relationships and there is always work to do for each of them, whether it’s helping on acquisitions, or advising against transactions.”

The London office was created when Evercore acquired Brave-heart, a boutique advisory firm that was set up by the City veterans Julian Oakley and Taylor, who was vice-chairman of JP Morgan in Europe.

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