Inside the battle to become Citi's global head of M&A
It's 2025. If senior bankers of the world are right, M&A deals might, finally, make a comeback. And yet Citi - which Dealogic says ranked 6th last year for global M&A deals - doesn't have more than an interim head of M&A.
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Kevin Cox became interim head of M&A at Citi last October. Four months later, he's still in the role. Citi is expected to announce a permanent head of M&A soon. Who will it be?
Citi isn't saying. Senior bankers say Citi has been out in the market, looking externally, for at least a year. However, speaking at Davos last month, Citi's head of banking Vis Raghavan suggested internal candidates are in the mix. "There is such a deep bench there that I want to evaluate what I have first," declared Raghavan of decision-making process.
Who's on the bench? Cox, clearly, but others too. Insiders point to names like Chuck Adams, the head of healthcare banking, Brian Link, the co-head of M&A for North America, Phil Drury, the head of global technology and communications banking, or Christian Anderson, the global head and financial institutions and fintech. Prior to the arrival of Raghavan last June, the expectation seems to have been that Link, Drury, Anderson or Jens Welter were the internal candidates for the job. Last October, though, Welter was unexpectedly moved to New York to become head of North American investment banking coverage, possibly putting him out of the running.
While Citi isn't saying anything about Raghavan's evaluation of its bench, the man himself gave an indication of who he likes when he specifically called out Adam's healthcare team in Davos, praising their involvement in Johnson and Johnson's recently announced acquisition of Cellular Therapies Inc. and Lilly's acquisition of Scorpion Therapeutics' PI3Kα inhibitor program. Chuck Adams would therefore seem to be one of Citi's favourites. Senior insiders say this makes sense. "Chuck is an exceptionally good banker," said one, adding that when Raghavan hires externally he has a "mindset" of only wanting to hire from top banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs. Adams joined Citi from Goldman Sachs in 2021.
Healthcare banking isn't Citi's M&A sweetspot, though. Last year, Dealogic says the three key sectors for M&A revenues at Citi were energy and natural resources, industrials, and technology. Energy and natural resources is run by Michael Jamieson, who's been at Citi 16 years. Industrials is run by Stephen Edelman, who's been there nearly 30 years. Sameer Singh, Citi's co-head of M&A for North America, might also consider himself a candidate, although there are suggestions that he might need a little longer to ripen into the global head role.
Whether Raghavan plucks someone from the bench or hires externally, some or all of the men mentioned above are likely to feel overlooked. This could cause issues of its own. However, Raghavan seems willing to ruffle feathers. Last September, he hired Sidharth Punshi, a former colleague who'd been running financial sponsors for Europe at JPMorgan, to lead the EMEA alternative assets group, displacing Theo Giatrakos, who'd been doing that job, in the process. "It was pretty ugly," claims one insider. Giatrakos is now focusing on clients instead. Meanwhile, Raghavan just moved Ashu Khullar from India to London to focus on EMEA and Asia financial sponsors; the FCA Register says Khullar last worked in London nearly 10 years ago, in 2016.
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