Guggenheim Partners is hiring a restructuring veteran from Rothschild & Co. as the firm beefs up its cadre of bankers to help fix ailing companies, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Homer Parkhill, a partner at Rothschild, is joining Guggenheim in New York, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the matter is private. Parkhill has been with Rothschild for more than 21 years and was elevated to co-head of its restructuring practice in North America in 2017.
Representatives at Guggenheim and Rothschild declined to comment. Parkhill did not respond to a request for comment.
Parkhill will be joining Guggenheim’s restructuring group as corporate bankruptcies pile up amid a wobbly economy and higher interest rate environment. Moody’s Investors Service expects the global default rate for speculative-grade companies to hit 5.1% next year, up from 3.8% in the 12 months ended in June.
Guggenheim tapped Ronen Bojmel to launch a restructuring practice within its investment banking and capital markets unit in 2012 and later acquired a restructuring advisory firm run by Jim Millstein, the US Treasury Department’s former restructuring chief.
So far this year, Guggenheim has been active in several high-profile debt workouts, including advising retailer Rite Aid Corp., housewares maker Instant Brands Holdings and drugmaker Mallinckrodt Plc.