Citibank (NYSE: C) Hires New M&A Head for Asia-Pacific Region

Citibank (NYSE:C) has hired a new head of mergers and acquisitions for its Asia-Pacific region, according to several sources.

The new hire, Colin Banfield, formerly of Nomura Holdings Inc resigned his position last week and will take the position vacated by Steven Wallace, former head of Citigroup’s takeover advisory business for the region who left his position in the middle of 2009.

Under the now-bankrupt Lehman Brothers, Banfield led Tokyo-based Nomura to become the top ranked advisory firm on mergers in acquisitions in Asia in 2009, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Banfield is one of many Nomura executives who were former bankers from Lehman Brothers that left the company last month, placing pressure on Namura CEO Kenichi Watanabe to step up his efforts to keep senior managers. Nomura lost the heads of its equities and fixed income units in the region during the last two weeks, as well as one of its top bankers for China.

Nomura paid guaranteed bonuses to ex-Lehman Brothers employees this month. The firm acquired Lehman’s operations in Asia and Europe in 2008, adding about 8,000 employees to their payroll.

Citigroup’s mergers and acquisitions rating in Asia has dropped significantly in the last four years, falling from first place in the region in 2006 to fourth in 2009, according to data from Bloomberg, after several senior departures in Asia

New-York-based Citibank rebounded to first this year in Asian M&A deals, bolstered by its advising of AIG’s sale of an Asian life insurance unit to Prudential Plc for $35.5 billion.

Nomura was the top M&A adviser for five out of the last six years. The company consulted Lotte Shopping Co on a $628 million acquisition of Times LD in October and recently adviser the $1.8 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch by KKR & Co. The company also worked on Kumbo Asiana Group’s $2.5 billion sale of Daewoo Engineering & Construction Co. in December.