JPMorgan poaches Wells Fargo banker for entertainment group: Sources

(Reuters) - JPMorgan Chase & Co has hired Reginald Lang, the head of media investment banking at Wells Fargo & Co, to work for its entertainment industries group, which provides financing to TV and film studios, people familiar with the matter said.

The group, which is part of JPMorgan's commercial banking arm, does not finance individual TV and movie projects. Instead, it provides corporate financing that producers can use to fund budgets, refinance debt or splash out on mergers and acquisitions.

Lang, a managing director in Wells Fargo's New York office, will relocate to Los Angeles and report to the head of JPMorgan's entertainment industries group, David Shaheen, the sources said, requesting anonymity to discuss the matter ahead of an official announcement.

JPMorgan could announce the new hire as early as Monday in an internal memo, according to one of the sources. JPMorgan, Wells Fargo and Lang all declined to comment.

The move marks a return to JPMorgan for Lang, who left the New York-based bank in 2006 to join Wachovia, a bank subsequently acquired by Wells Fargo, according to his LinkedIn page.

JPMorgan has a market share of more than 90 percent in the provision of senior debt financing to entertainment production companies, according to its website. It started financing Hollywood movies in the silent film era of the 1920s.

JPMorgan's corporate clients in the entertainment industry include Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc, Lions Gate Entertainment Corp, Legendary Pictures, which is now owned by China's Dalian Wanda, Steven Spielberg's Amblin Partners, Village Roadshow Ltd and Entertainment One Ltd.

(Reporting by Liana B. Baker in New York; Editing by Paul Simao)