PJT Partners taps Goldman for director hire

PJT Partners is expanding its European secondaries business and has hired a professional from Goldman Sachs.

Debra Kelsall will join the investment bank’s secondary advisory group as a director next month, according to two sources familiar with the matter. It is understood that Kelsall is one of a handful of hires set to join the firm’s London office.

Kelsall has spent the last five and a half years at Goldman, most recently in its alternative capital unit.

PJT’s European secondaries operations are led by Johanna Lottmann, who joined from Lazard last year. David Perdue leads the firm’s global operations in New York.

The firm advised on $14.5 billion of deal volume last year, marking a 20 percent year-on-year increase, according to the Secondaries Investor Advisory Survey 2020. The firm’s 27 transactions included three single-asset restructurings, one strip sale and one tender offer.

A spokesman for PJT did not comment on the appointment.