Deutsche Bank has hired another senior software banker as it tries to cash in on the tech dealmaking bonanza

Ralph Orlowski/REUTERS

Deutsche Bank CEO Christian Sewing speaks at the 28th Frankfurt European Banking Congress (EBC) at the Old Opera house in Frankfurt, Germany November 16, 2018. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski

• Deutsche Bank has hired senior software investment banker Gregory Thorne, who was formerly a managing director Stifel.
• That's the second senior software banker the firm has hired in the past two months.
• Tech banking has been a bright spot recently amid a turbulent 2018 for the bank, which aims to capitalize on the industry's busiest and most lucrative sector heading into next year.

Deutsche Bank have hired another senior software banker - the second in the last two months - as it looks to bolster its tech investment banking team, a recent bright spot amid a turbulent year for the German lender.

Gregory Thorne, a 20-year veteran, is joining the firm from Stifel as a managing director in software banking, according to an internal memo reviewed by Business Insider.

A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the memo. Stifel did not immediately respond to request for comment.

"We continue to expect robust deal activity in the software and the broader technology sectors and Greg's addition will help us capitalize on this momentum," Mark Keene and Gavin Deane, the bank's co-heads of technology, media, and telecom banking, wrote in the memo.

The bank also hired Matt Upton, a senior software banker at Mizuho, back in October.

Wall Street investment banks have been poaching rival dealmakers at a rampant pace this year, and tech bankers are among the most coveted and best compensated, according to headhunters.

Deutsche had been looking to add senior software banking specialists for some time before landing Upton and Thorne, according to people familiar with the matter.

Amid a tumultuous year across the firm broadly, the firm has seen a wave of departures in its US investment bank. More than two-dozen senior investment bankers have left this year, including US fintech banking head Rahul Singla to Citigroup and global technology services head Ed Wehle to Barclays.

But while the bank, under CEO Christian Sewing's guidance, has been looking to cut back and restructure some of its US business lines - notably in sales and trading - it's investing in tech investment banking, one of the most lucrative and active sectors in the industry and typically an area of strength for the firm.

Tech mergers and acquisitions generated $3 billion in fees in the first three quarters of the year, far outpacing any other sector, according to data from Dealogic.

Deutsche Bank has advised on a string of tech deals of late. Since November, the bank has worked on announced transactions including CommScope's $7.4 billion acquisition of Arris International, CVC Capital Partners' $1.8 billion acquisition of ConvergeOne, and Siris Capital's $4.4 billion buyout of Travelport Worldwide last week. The firm last week also advised on Tencent Music's $1.1 billion initial public offering.

The bank expects the frothy sector to remain busy to kick off 2019, an added incentive to add talent and get its team situated heading into the new year.

"We're keeping our heads down, focusing on the client and delivering the right advice and adding the right value to them," Ajay Shah, who was appointed head of technology investment banking in September, told Business Insider. "Overall the tech space is going to be extremely active, and we want to hire ahead of that and have the right team focused on clients."

• Read more:
• Investment banks are waging a war for star talent in 2018. Here are the banks that won - and the banks that lost.
• 2018 has been one of the wildest years in M&A since the financial crisis - here are the 40 biggest investment-banker moves