By Liana B. Baker
July 13 (Reuters) - Moelis & Co has hired investmentbanker Zach Righellis as a managing director to build up apractice in global semiconductors, one of the most active areasthis year in technology dealmaking, the company said on Monday.
Righellis, who was previously at Barclays, will bebased in Palo Alto and focus on clients in the U.S., Europe,Asia and Israel. Moelis made the announcement in a memopublished on Monday.
Semiconductor dealmaking has reached $79.7 billion so farthis year, an amount that already surpasses every full-yearperiod on record, with the exception of 2000, when M&A in thesector hit $115.5 billion.
Righellis represented semiconductor maker Silicon Image thisyear on its sale to connectivity chip maker LatticeSemiconductor Corp. Earlier in his career, he helpedadvise Qualcomm Inc on the divestiture of vehicle fleettechnology company Omnitracs LLC to Vista Equity Partners, aprivate equity firm..
The boutique advisory firm has been adding to its TMTinvestment banking ranks in recent months. It hired Barclaystech analyst Ben Reitzes as a managing director in March.Telecom specialist Lawrence Chu, who joins from the U.S. FederalCommunications Commission and Green Hill & Co, willstart later this summer. (Reporting by Liana B. Baker; Editing by Bernard Orr)
Barclays (BARC)