Occupation Investment banking Name Blair Effron | Role Investment Banker Employer Warburg Dillon Read | |
Born 1962 Poughkeepsie, New York Known for Co-Founder of Centerview Partners Education Columbia Business School, Princeton University | ||
M&A 'Just Fine' But Slower Than 2019, Centerview's Effron Says
Blair W. Effron is an American financier. Effron co-founded Centerview Partners, a boutique investment banking firm based in New York City. Centerview has offices in London, New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Centerview Partners is a leading independent investment banking and advisory firm. The firm provides advice on mergers and acquisitions, financial restructurings, valuation, and capital structure to companies, institutions and governments.
Contents
- MA Just Fine But Slower Than 2019 Centerviews Effron Says
- Early life
- Career
- Other affiliations
- References
Since the founding of Centerview in 2006, they have advised on more than $600 billion of transactions. Their clients include over 20% of the 50 largest companies in the world by market capitalization, and they have been involved in many of the largest and most complex corporate situations and transactions.
Effron is also active in Democratic Party politics and was a prominent supporter of John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign.
Early life
Effron grew up in Poughkeepsie, New York, son of James W. Effron, president of Effron Oil. Effron graduated with a BA from Princeton University in 1984 and an MBA from Columbia Business School in 1986. He began his career at Dillon, Read & Co. and would remain with the firm and its successors (Warburg Dillon Read, UBS Warburg and UBS Investment Bank) over the next 20 years. Effron received a brief mention as an associate at Dillon Read in the Barbarians at the Gate involved in the buyout of RJR Nabisco by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co.
Career
Effron began his career in investment banking in the early 1980s and built up a reputation as one of the leading bankers in the consumer products industry and for past the ten years since founding Centerview has been one of the industry's top generalist banker across several industries. At UBS, Effron was Group Vice Chairman of UBS AG and a member of the Board of UBS Investment Bank, where he also sat on several management committees. Effron's major coup came in 2005 when he advised Gillette on its $57 billion sale to Procter & Gamble, which was the largest mergers and acquisitions transaction of 2005. Among Effron's other major deals are:
and Diageo's $8 billion purchase of Seagram's wine and spirits business
In July 2006, Effron co-founded Centerview Partners along with Stephen Crawford, a former co-president of Morgan Stanley as well as Robert Pruzan, formerly CEO of Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein North America.
Other affiliations
Mr. Effron serves on the Board of Trustees of the Council on Foreign Relations (Vice Chairman), Lincoln Center (Treasurer), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Visions for Public Schools, Partnership for New York City, and Princeton University. He also sits on the advisory board of The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution.
Active in the democratic party, Effron hosted Obama to his Upper East Side Manhattan home in May 2014 and Hillary Clinton in June 2015.