Thursday, March 20, 2008

Quattrone back with new boutique bank

Seven months after being cleared of obstruction of justice charges, former investment banker Frank Quattrone reports that he's launching a technology-focused banking boutique in San Francisco.

Quattrone, who was a banker at Credit Suisse First Boston, had -- beginning in 2003 -- become part of a federal investigation relating to initial public offering practices at Credit Suisse early in this decade.

The investigation of Credit Suisse First Boston began in 2002, when Massachusetts state officials filed civil fraud charges against the bank for using biased research to win banking business. The charges came about from the discovery of e-mails to Quattrone allegedly describing such a practice with Research in Motion Ltd., the maker of the Blackberry.

Quattrone, who staged dozens of high-profile tech IPOs during the 1990s, is launching the new bank, Qatalyst Partners, with some former colleagues from Credit Suisse, according to a bank news release.

Qatalyst Partners plans to provide merger and acquisition and corporate finance advice to technology companies. The bank would operate as a division of JMP Securities LLC, a subsidiary of JMP Group Inc., a San Francisco-based investment bank.