In Brief: Societe Generale Names New Manager of M&A

Societe Generale Securities Corp. has named Kim S. Fennebresque managing director and head of mergers and acquisitions, the bank said Friday.

Mr. Fennebresque was most recently head of mergers and acquisitions at Union Bank of Switzerland, where he worked for four years. Before that, he was a general partner and co-head of investment banking at Lazard Freres & Co. Before that, he was with CS First Boston for 13 years, where he oversaw leveraged acquisitions, transaction development, and co-headed of investment banking.

In the newly created position, Mr. Fennebresque will oversee the 30 M&A professionals, and he will report to Curtis Welling, president and chief executive officer of Societe Generale. In 1997, Societe Generale led seven deals worth $5.58 billion, ranking 28th among all underwriters, according to Securities Data Co.

Cowen & Co., which Societe Generale recently announced that it would acquire, brings about 30 to 35 additional M&A professionals to the group, a Societe Generale spokesman said.