Sandler O’Neill has hired Caspar Bentinck as managing director in the firm’s investment banking group. He will focus on West Coast banks and financial service companies.

More specifically, Bentinck will provide strategic and financial advice to financial institutions, primarily those located in the western United State. He will be based in the firm’s San Francisco office and will report to William F. Hickey and Brian R. Sterling, principals and co-heads of Investment Banking.

“I am pleased to join Sandler O’Neill, a firm synonymous with providing outstanding advice and service to financial services companies,” Bentinck said. “I believe that my nearly 20 years of experience advising on capital raising, mergers and acquisitions and other strategic and financial issues, as well as my focus on West Coast institutions, will complement Sandler’s world class financial services franchise.”

Bentinck joins Sandler O’Neill from Jefferies, where he was head of Debt Capital Markets and Western U.S. Banks. He has advised on several of the most significant transactions involving West Coast banks in recent years, including PacWest Bancorp’s $2.3 billion acquisition of CapitalSource in 2014 and AmericanWest Bank’s announced $702 million merger with Banner Corp. He served as managing director at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and worked in debt syndicate at Lehman Brothers prior to joining Jefferies.

“We are thrilled to welcome Caspar to the firm,” said Jonathan Doyle, senior managing principal of Sandler O’Neill. “He brings a wealth of experience and insight to our clients and will be a great addition to our industry-leading team on the West Coast. He has deep relationships and is keenly attuned to the issues most important to West Coast banks.”

Since the beginning of 2014, Sandler O’Neill has advised on 83 bank and thrift M&A transactions valued at an aggregate $13.9 billion, including 15 M&A transactions in the western region.