Blackstone nabs Citi banker for tech deals

The Blackstone Group has hired Ivan Brockman away from Citi, where he was co-head of West Coast technology investment banking, as first reported last week by peHUB, a PE Week affiliated publication. Brockman is expected to formally join Blackstone later this summer as one source referred to the interim period as a “gardening leave” for Brockman.

After Brockman joins Blackstone, he’s expected to focus on private equity transactions in the tech sector. He will be the firm’s second senior PE professional in Silicon Valley, joining Senior Managing Director John Hodge, who oversaw Blackstone’s investment in Freescale Semiconductor Inc. Blackstone led a consortium in 2006 to purchase Freescale for $17.6 billion, which is considered one of the largest buyouts of a tech company.

Brockman joined Citi in 2004, after having served as vice president with Goldman Sachs. Before that, he was with Lazard Freres, and also spent some years working on VC deals at law firm Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. —Dan Primack