Frederic Stupart joined Opus Bank’s Merchant Banking division and Opus Financial Partners, the bank’s broker-dealer subsidiary, as managing director, Financial Sponsors Group. He will be based at Opus’ new office in New York City.

Stupart, an investment banking and private equity veteran with more than 20 years of experience, is responsible for developing and maintaining relationships and providing capital funding, tailored solutions and strategic advice for middle-market companies and their private equity sponsors.

Stephen H. Gordon, chairman, CEO and president of Opus Bank, said, “I am pleased to announce the continued expansion of our Merchant Banking team and the opening of the New York office. We look forward to Fred’s contributions as we expand the capabilities of Opus’ Merchant Banking division, which has more than doubled its revenues year over year.”

Dale Cheney, president of the Merchant Banking Division, said, “Fred’s successful experience as both a private equity and investment banking professional complements our differentiated merchant banking model of providing a flexible one-stop principal investing and advisory solution to lower middle-market companies. In this effort, Fred will be working closely with financial sponsors to provide growth equity capital for portfolio companies, structure financings for new acquisitions, and present M&A opportunities to the financial sponsor community.”

Stupart joins Opus from Eaglestone Capital Management, where he served as managing member, chief investment officer and was responsible for originating investment opportunities focused on public market private equity investments. From 2009 to 2012, he served as executive director, Leveraged & Acquisition Finance – Sponsor Coverage at Morgan Stanley, where he led the sponsors coverage effort. From 2008 to 2009, Stupart was principal at EG Capital Group, where he was responsible for new investment opportunities in the middle market. From 2002 to 2009, Stupart served as vice president, Leveraged Finance and Financial Sponsors Coverage at Credit Suisse Securities (USA), where he developed sponsor relationships while working on debt, equity and M&A transactions across various industries.

Earlier in his career, he served in finance roles with Deutsche Bank, Clifford Chance and Davies, Ward & Beck.