The American lender nabbed an ex-Deutsche Bank investment banker to lead the unit, claiming to anticipate increased fundraising and M&A activity in the second half.
Alex Cartel joins, effective July 2020, as the head of investment banking for Citi Australia and New Zealand after most recently being with Deutsche Bank’s Australia unit as its head of investment banking coverage, according to a statement. Cartel, who is also the president of the «Australian Takovers Panel», will report to Tony Osmond, Citi’s head of banking, capital markets and advisory.
Cartel has over 20 years of experience with involvement in numerous major deals in Australia including, most recently, the A$600 million ($381 million) sales of Kirin’s Lion Drinks and Dairy business to China Mengniu and Saputo.
ECM Co-Heads
In addition, the bank also named Rob Jahrling and Hamish Whitehead as co-heads of Citi Australia and New Zealand’s equity capital markets (ECM), reporting to John McLean capital markets origination head at Citi Australia and New Zealand.
Whitehead joined Citi in 2015 and now leads ECM origination and execution out of Melbourne, covering the transport and utilities sector. Jahrling joined Citi in 2010 and ECM origination and execution from Sydney, covering the resources sectors.
Increased Activity
In just the past two weeks, Citi has raised $2 billion in equity from regional carpets including NextDC, Auckland International Airport, Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group and Electro Optic Systems. It also raised $8.5 billion from debt capital markets from companies and government agencies such as NSW Treasury Corporation, Queensland Treasury Corporation, South Australia Finance Authority and Treasury Corporation of Victoria.
«We are experiencing a strong increase in fundraising activity and expect this to grow further to include increased M&A activity in the second half and beyond,» added Citi’s Osmond in the statement.
