Former Moelis defense bankers, Barclays activism to build businesses on Jasper Street By Reuters

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Two Wall Street bankers are joining Jasper Street Partners to build the firm’s practice, helping clients defend against activist investors by identifying vulnerabilities, navigating proxy contests and managing lobbying campaigns.

Duncan Herrington and Peter da Silva Vint, who worked as activist-defense bankers most recently at Moelis (NYSE: ) and Barclays respectively, are spearheading the new business, Jasper Street executives told Reuters.

Herrington and da Silva Vint will serve as managing partners and join founders Robert Main, Jessica Wirth Strine, Marc Lindsay (NYSE: ) and Amy Hernandez Slowik, former Vanguard executives.

Founded in 2020, the firm, which this month changed its name from Sustainable Governance Partners, was conceived in a coffee shop on Jasper Street in Media, Pennsylvania, and has offices in Pennsylvania and New York.

“As the gray space between economic activism and issue activism continues to converge, we see tremendous potential for an advisor who can traverse all that terrain,” Strine told Reuters.

Herrington, who trained as a lawyer before entering banking, left Moelis over the summer and previously worked at Raymond James Financial (NYSE: ). Da Silva Vint, who also holds a law degree and an MBA, worked at Moelis overseeing governance at portfolio companies for BlackRock (NYSE: ) and most recently at Barclays.

The two men are reuniting on Jasper Street as demand grows from companies facing agitators like Carl Icahn and Nelson Peltz, as well as other interests like labor unions. A record number of activist campaigns were launched in the first half of the year, including at Southwest Airlines (NYSE: ), JetBlue and Walt Disney (NYSE: ).

Jasper Street expects to form relationships to provide year-round support for “offense” and “defense,” Strine said, not just crisis services.

Competitors include big banks like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan and independent firms like Spotlight Advisors and Strategic Governance Advisors.