Former MinterEllisonRuddWatts star Silvana Schenone is making career waves again, exiting local investment bank Jarden, who have had their ups and downs in recent years, to join fast‑rising Australian player Barrenjoey and taking her trans‑Tasman dealmaking clout with her.
However the move has attracted the ire and investigation of Jardens as the Australian Financial Review has reported that Schenone and former Jardens co-CEO Daniel Reynolds has allegedly failed to disclose a personal relationship prior to the shock move.
Barrenjoey, founded in 2020 and backed by Barclays and Magellan, has rapidly muscled into the top tier of Australian investment banking, mixing staff ownership with full‑service corporate finance, equities, fixed income and research.
Its New Zealand push has come with a raid on Jarden’s senior ranks, with Schenone, who has been appointed to help spearhead the firm’s expansion across the Tasman. About 10 other Jarden employees are believed to have joined the exodus with Schenone and Reynolds.
At Jarden, Schenone co‑headed corporate finance and investment banking, leading execution on some of the firm’s largest New Zealand and trans‑Tasman deals, including major private‑equity and corporate divestment mandates, rather than specific deal citations.
LawFuel has long tagged Schenone as one of New Zealand’s most powerful legal dealmakers, a former head of MinterEllisonRuddWatts’ corporate team, New Zealand Deal Maker of the Year, and a 2023 LawFuel Power List lawyer whose leap from the “legal coal face” to Jarden was itself a headline move.
Her shift to Barrenjoey shows once again how top M&A and takeover work is increasingly being driven by lawyer‑turned‑bankers who can straddle regulatory nuance and boardroom politics.
Navigating other issues in the move may prove more difficult.
