Violy Byorum & Partners, a new New York investment banking boutique, has bagged six M&A and capital-raising deals worth almost $1.7 billion so far this year and has another 14 deals, worth $2 billion, in the works.
Then, late last month, came the stunner; a $500 million coup that ended a 50-year relationship between PepsiCo and Venezuela’s Cisneros family-and moved the Cisneros bottling operations into that arms of Pepsi’s arch-rival, Coca-Cola.
Chief banker on the deal was Colombian-born Violy McCausland who earned her M&A stripes in a 15 year stint at J.P. Morgan and who set up her own shop last January after briefly helping to build a Lating business at James D. Wolfensohn’s M&A boutique.
At Morgan, McCausland was known as a workhorse. Clearly the skill of Violy in dealing wit the emotional aspects of a deal is an important asset. Charm, along with banking talent, gives Mc-Causland an unusual edge. Her tenacity and aggressive work pace help, too. “When you’re doing a deal,” McCausland says, “there are no schedules.”