MOVES-Barclays hires Blackstone banker to be global media head
By Liana B. Baker
March 30 (Reuters) - Barclays Plc (LSE: BARC.L - news) has hired former Blackstone Group LP advisory banker Peter Cohen as its global head of media banking, the bank said in an internal memo Monday.
Cohen advised the Los Angeles Dodgers on its sale in 2012 to an investor group spearheaded by former basketball great Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Along with Barclays, he most recently advised U.S. media company Scripps Networks Interactive (NYSE: SNI - news) on its acquisition of a majority stake in Polish broadcaster TVN . He starts this week at Barclays' New (KOSDAQ: 160550.KQ - news) York office.
A Barclays spokesman confirmed the contents of the memo.
Before joining Blackstone (NYSE: BX - news) in 2009, Cohen was a managing director in the media investment banking group at J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.
Cohen is one of the several senior managing directors in Blackstone's mergers and acquisitions advisory arm who are leaving as the business is spun out and combined with an advisory firm headed by star Wall Street investment banker Paul Taubman. Reuters reported that as many as half of Blackstone advisory's 17 senior MDs may depart ahead of the merger[ID: nL2N0WJ2O5]. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Peter Galloway)