By Ben Dummett 

This article is being republished as part of our daily reproduction of WSJ.com articles that also appeared in the U.S. print edition of The Wall Street Journal (June 22, 2019).

Citigroup Inc. has poached a clutch of U.S.-based senior investment bankers from rivals, as it looks to challenge Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Morgan Stanley for a spot among the top three investment banks globally ranked by revenue.

The hirings come less than a year after Citigroup combined its corporate lending and mergers-and-acquisitions advisory business with its unit that helps clients raise debt and equity. The new division's promise of allowing bankers to cross-sell lending, underwriting, advisory and other related services to clients together is partly designed to be a key selling point for attracting new investment bankers.

Among the highest-profile new hires is Deutsche Bank AG's Mark Keene, who co-headed the German lender's global technology, media and telecom team in San Francisco. He will remain based there for Citigroup and will oversee technology investment banking globally together with the bank's Herb Yeh.

Mr. Keene's expertise is in the semiconductor sector, a big source of business for deal makers as the increasing adoption of semiconductors to help connect cars, refrigerators and other everyday items to the internet is pushing the industry to consolidate. Earlier this month, German chip maker Infineon Technologies AG struck a $9.4 billion deal to acquire the U.S.'s Cypress Semiconductor Corp.

Citigroup has been in the second tier of global investment banks in recent years. It occupied the No. 5 spot the past two years, generating less than 60% of the $6.91 billion in investment-banking revenue that top-ranked JPMorgan garnered last year, according to Dealogic. Citigroup is stronger outside the U.S., ranked in the top three in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Citigroup is adding a total of seven bankers -- three from Goldman, three from Deutsche Bank and one from Barclays PLC -- focused on the technology, health care and private-equity sectors both in the U.S. and abroad.

"If we get the right talent, we have a big opportunity," said London-based Manolo Falco, co-head of Citigroup's Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory unit. Mr. Falco oversees the division with Citigroup's Tyler Dickson, who is based in New York.

Among the other hires: tech bankers Elizabeth Milonopoulos from Goldman Sachs and Brian Yick from Barclays as global co-heads of internet investment banking. In the health-care sector, Citigroup has hired another banker from Goldman, Doretta Mistras, whose work includes advising on the $32 billion deal between Shire PLC and Baxalta Inc.

The bank has hired Michael Marcus from Goldman, along with two senior Deutsche Bank bankers, Mark Hantho and John Eydenberg. The Wall Street Journal previously reported that Messrs. Hantho and Eydenberg were in talks to jump to Citigroup.

The three New York-based bankers bring a list of established relationships with major companies and private-equity investors and are expected to help Citigroup shore up its business advising the likes of Apollo Global Management LLC, Japan's SoftBank Group Corp. and other big investors.

Citigroup's deals in this space include working with Singapore's GLP on the $18.7 billion sale earlier this year of its U.S. industrial warehouses to Blackstone Group LP. Still, the bank's U.S. business that advises private-equity investors has ranked outside of the top five by revenue in each of the past two years, according to Dealogic.

Write to Ben Dummett at ben.dummett@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 22, 2019 02:47 ET (06:47 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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