Meet your SPAC Team

Our team brings you 75+ years of collective experience of in-depth SPAC ECM experience and SPAC M&A experience with coverage across more than 55 industries. Our goal is to execute deals on the most favorable terms to our clients while avoiding costly mistakes made by advisors who are not exclusively focused on SPACs.

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Gus Garcia

Managing Partner

  • Co-CEO & Director at GSR III Acquisition Corp.

  • Co-CEO & Director at GSR II Acquisition Corp., which successfully closed a SPAC transaction with Bitcoin Depot (NASDAQ: BTM) in June 2023​

  • Co-President & Director at Graf Acquisition Corp. IV, which successfully closed a SPAC transaction with NKGen (NASDAQ: NKGN) in October 2023​

  • Head of SPAC M&A at Bank of America Merrill Lynch prior to Graf Acquisition Corp. IV

  • Advised on closed SPAC transactions with $20+ billion in negotiated value since September 2020

    • Additionally, worked on and oversaw transactions with an excess of $150 billion in value across PIPEs, corporate separations and other mergers & acquisitions

    • Prior to being the Head of SPAC M&A, led the separations practice for Bank of America focusing on complex corporate transactions, such as spin-offs (including one of the top 5 largest spin-offs in corporate history), split-offs, reverse morris trusts, carve-out IPOs and structured private capital raises

    • Prior to the merger with Bank of America, worked at Merrill Lynch in the Corporate Finance group focusing on complex corporate transactions as well as structured investments held on the bank’s balance sheet in partnership with Merrill Lynch’s Global Principal Investment group

    • Previously worked in HSBC’s Healthcare Investment Banking Group and in Wells Fargo Securities’ M&A group

    • On the Board of Directors for New York Cares

    • BS in Business Administration, and MS in International Commerce & Finance, Magna cum laude, from Georgetown University in 2003

Lew Silberman

Managing Partner

  • Co-CEO & Director at GSR III Acquisition Corp.

  • Co-CEO & Director at GSR II Acquisition Corp., which successfully closed a SPAC transaction with Bitcoin Depot (NASDAQ: BTM) in June 2023​

  • Co-President & Director at Graf Acquisition Corp. IV, which successfully closed a SPAC transaction with NKGen (NASDAQ: NKGN) in October 2023​

  • Head of SPAC Equity Capital Markets at Oppenheimer prior to Graf Acquisition Corp. IV

  • Led financings for Oppenheimer’s SPAC IPOs and business combination clients

    • Managed all SPAC IPO clients, including a number of sponsor formation processes

    • Acted in an advisory or placement agent role for transactions including Zapp’s combination with CIIG II, Rodgers Silicon Valley’s combination with Enovix, Alpha Healthcare’s combination with Humacyte, Switchback’s combination with ChargePoint, and Roth CH’s combination with PureCycle

    • Previously Head of Equity Research Sales at Oppenheimer for five years

    • Before joining Oppenheimer, spent three years at CIBC World Markets, working in a special situations client-coverage group focused on strategies including merger-arbitrage, ADR-arbitrage, and closed-end fund arbitrage

    • Prior to CIBC World Markets, worked at PaineWebber

    • Bachelor of Science with a dual major in finance and marketing from the Leonard N. Stern School of Business at New York University (2000)

    • MBA with a dual focus in Financial Markets and Management from the Stern School at New York University (2010)

    • Completed three New York City Marathons (2017, 2018, 2019) as a member of Fred’s Team to raise money for Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center

Anantha Ramamurti

Managing Partner

  • President, CFO & Director at GSR III Acquisition Corp.

  • President & Director at GSR II Acquisition Corp., which successfully closed a SPAC transaction with Bitcoin Depot in June 2023

  • Head of Global Mobility Group at Bank of America until joining Graf Acquisition Corp. IV in March 2021

  • Covered clients in AutoTech and other emerging technologies since joining BofA in 2017

  • Advised on several SPAC mergers, including the sale of Zapp to CIIG II, the sale of Spire Global to NavSight, acquisition of Lucid by Churchill IV, sale of Xos to NextGen, acquisition of EVgo by Climate Change Crisis I, sale of Proterra to ArcLight, sale of Lightning eMotors to GigCapital3, sale of ChargePoint to Switchback, sale of Canoo to Hennessy IV, and sale of Velodyne Lidar to Graf Industrial

    • Prior to Bank of America, worked at Deutsche Bank since 2010 covering clients across semiconductor, communications, networking and cleantech sectors

    • Started banking career in 2009 at Guggenheim Securities in its Consumer & Retail investment banking division

    • Has led execution on over 65 transactions totaling over $80 billion in transaction value across all product areas, including equity offerings, debt issuances, SPAC mergers and other M&A advisory, over the banking career

    • Prior to banking, was Senior Financial Analyst at Taco Bell, a division of Yum! Brands

    • Prior to finance, spent almost 12 years in various engineering roles at Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, Texas Instruments and several other technology firms, working on the design and development of semiconductor processor chips

    • Holds four patents in the areas of design and development

    • MBA with Honors in Finance from the UCLA Anderson School of Management

    • MS with Honors in Electrical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh

    • Bachelor of Engineering with Honors in Instrumentation from BITS, Pilani, India

Yuya Orime

Senior Vice President

  • Chief Business Development Officer at GSR III Acquisition Corp.

  • Senior Vice President at GSR II Acquisition Corp., which successfully closed a SPAC transaction with Bitcoin Depot (NASDAQ: BTM) in June 2023

  • Previously Director at Bank of America (“BofA”) Technology Investment Banking until joining GSR II Meteora Acquisition Corp. in May 2022

  • Covered clients in AutoTech and Enterprise Software since 2016 in BofA’s Palo Alto office

  • Covered clients in Industrials, TMT, and Financial Sponsors since 2012 in BofA’s Tokyo office

  • Has led executions on over $50 billion in deal value across all products areas, including equity offerings, debt issuances and M&A advisory

    • Advised on several SPAC mergers, including the sale of Zapp to CIIG II, sale of Spire Global to NavSight, acquisition of Lucid by Churchill IV, sale of Xos to NextGen, acquisition of EVgo by Climate Change Crisis I, sale of Proterra to ArcLight, sale of Lightning eMotors to GigCapital3, sale of ChargePoint to Switchback, sale of Canoo to Hennessy IV, and sale of Velodyne Lidar to Graf Industrial

    • Advised on several M&A transactions, including acquisition of Mulesoft and Tableau by Salesforce, among others

    • Advised on several equity transactions, including Lucid Motor’s Convertible Note, ChargePoint’s Follow-on, Alteryx’s Convertible Note, Avalara’s Follow-on, Cardlytics’ IPO, Skylark’s IPO, and Japan Airline’s IPO

    • BS in Business Administration from University of Southern California in 2011