Ziebold Q&A: Why He Left Bruce Wasserstein's PE Firm For First Beverage

Last week, W. Townsend Ziebold jumped to First Beverage Group, a boutique financial services firm catering to the beverage industry. He joined First Beverage from Bruce Wasserstein’s PE firm, Wasserstein & Co. Townsend has over 25 years in investment banking and private equity. He’s been a banker with First Boston Corp. and Wasserstein Perella, which was acquired by Dresdner Bank in 2000 (The merchant bank of WP was spun off in 2000 to form Wasserstein & Co.). Townsend has worked on some major deals, including KKR’s purchase of RJR Nabisco and SmithKline's merger with the Beecham Group. At Wasserstein & Co., he worked on the buys of IMAX Corp., Maybelline Cosmetics and Turtle Mountain, a leading producer of non-dairy desserts. Townsend, 49, officially joined First Beverage on May 9. I spoke to him by phone last week.