Sagent Advisors, a privately owned investment bank, has hired Osamu Watanabe, a veteran investment banking attorney, as general counsel and chief compliance officer. Watanabe brings more than 25 years of legal and transactional experience, having provided legal counsel to several major investment banks throughout his career.

Watanabe joins Sagent after eight years as executive director and senior counsel at UBS Investment Bank, where he was responsible for advising on a broad range of investment banking transactions. Prior to working at UBS, Watanabe worked at Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette and Credit Suisse First Boston in Los Angeles, where he was senior vice president and co-head of Investment Banking Lawyers and general counsel of GRP, a $350 million affiliated venture capital fund.