Billionaire-led QXO hires Barclays banker Ihsan Essaid as first finance chief

QXO Inc., the new company of trucking billionaire Brad Jacobs, hired a Wall Street banker to run its finances as it gets closer to becoming a publicly-traded business.

Ihsan Essaid, head of global mergers and acquisitions at Barclays Plc in New York, is taking over as QXO’s first chief financial officer, Jacobs Private Equity II LLC — Jacob’s investment firm — said in a Tuesday statement given to Bloomberg.

Essaid has worked for Barclays since September 2021, including as co-head of global M&A. He prior to that headed up Credit Suisse’s media and telecom M&A group for over six years and worked as a partner at Perella Weinberg Partners LP. Essaid started his career at Bank of America Corp., according to his LinkedIn profile.

QXO has about $1 billion for M&A and organic growth as it focuses on distribution of building products, including construction materials, plumbing supplies as well as heating and cooling equipment. The company said it has identified about 7,000 potential M&A targets in the US and over 13,000 in Western Europe.

Essaid’s hire comes just days before a May 30 vote in which shareholders of Nasdaq-listed SilverSun Technologies Inc. are set to approve a $1 billion investment by JPE and co-investors, including wealth-management arm Sequoia Heritage, making JPE the company’s majority shareholder.

SilverSun will be renamed QXO and become a platform for Jacobs’ new venture upon closing, providing the company with a public listing. Jacobs is set to become chairman and chief executive officer of QXO then, according to JPE. He will remain chairman of XPO Inc. as well as of spinoffs RXO Inc. and GXO Logistics Inc.

“Ihsan is a heavy hitter in the M&A world with an exceptional track record,” Jacobs said, according to the statement, pointing to over $50 billion worth of transactions during Essaid’s time at Barclays.

JPE declined to comment beyond its release. Essaid didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.