Kevin Berry and Juan Mejia join Drake Star Partners as partners
Global investment bank Drake Star Partners announced that it has hired Kevin Berry and Juan Mejia as partners in its San Francisco and NYC offices, respectively. The two bring decades of experience in M&A advisory in technology and media to their new roles in the firm’s US senior team.
Drake Star Partners is a global investment bank that provides mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and corporate finance advisory services to technology, media, and communications clients around the world. The firm’s seasoned investment bankers provide strategic M&A support to clients in the areas of sell-side, buy-side, and public takeovers, among others. On the corporate finance side, Drake Star offers advisory services in the areas of recapitalization, growth financing and debt, IPOs, restructuring, and valuation advisory.
Founded in 2003, the firm has offices in New York, London, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Paris, Munich, Berlin, Amsterdam, Geneva, and Tokyo. With a team of over 70 professionals, Drake Star has completed over 300 transactions – 70% of which have been cross-border deals. The firm has worked with numerous leading companies, including WPP, Oracle, Nokia, Thomson Reuters, and Capgemini.
Last week, Drake Star announced that it was strengthening its US leadership with the addition of two new partners. Kevin Berry will bring his 25 years of experience in the investment banking and financial services industry to the firm’s San Francisco office, while Juan Mejia – who boasts over two decades-worth of M&A advisory and technology consulting experience – will join the New York office.
Prior to joining Drake Star, Kevin Berry was a Vice President for four years in investment bank Houlihan Lokey’s Technology, Media, and Telecom Group. While there, he oversaw a number of important transactions, including the sale of Social Solutions to Vista Equity and the sale of EPiServer to Accel/KKR. Before Houlihan Lokey, Berry was a Director at boutique technology investment bank ArchPoint Partners, where he supported tech and media firms with financial and strategic advisory services. Prior to that, Berry was a Managing Director at NASDAQ, where he secured IPO listings for firms like Zynga, Solazyme, and Zillow. He holds a BA from St. John’s University.
Juan Mejia was previously a Managing Director at financial advisory firm Peter J. Solomon, where he was a member of the company’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications advisory practice. Before that, Mejia worked in Morgan Stanley’s Media & Communications investment banking group, advising on M&A, divestitures, and capital structuring, among other areas.
Mejia has worked on many high-profile deals, including eBay’s $2.4 billion acquisition of GSI Commerce and Under Armour’s purchase of MapMyFitness. Before his tenure with Peter J. Solomon and Morgan Stanley, Mejia worked in software sales and IT services at PeopleSoft and Accenture. He holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and B.S. in Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech.
“Kevin and Juan bring proven experience in both deal origination and expert advice across the technology, media and communications sectors, winning and closing industry-defining transactions for clients worldwide,” commented Gregory Bedrosian, Managing Partner & CEO at Drake Star Partners. “They will undoubtedly contribute to help us gain greater market share in the US while leveraging their local know-how to benefit our cross-border, sector-focused teams internationally.”
Drake Star has been on a recent hiring spree as it seeks to expand its capabilities to service client demand in the areas of M&A and corporate finance. The firm recently hired Michael Metzger and Mark Bradt as partners in its LA and San Francisco offices, respectively, while also recruiting Eric Ward to the firm’s London office.
