MT ArcelorMittal

LONDON—Barclays PLC on Monday hired nine people including former Bank of America Merrill Lynch banker Carlo Calabria to strengthen its mergers and acquisitions business, a high-profile example of how European banks aren't pulling back across the board in investment banking.

Mr. Calabria will be chairman of Barclays' M&A for Europe, Middle East and Africa and is joining with eight others from CMC Capital, the boutique Mr. Calabria helped found four years ago. Barclays said the veteran M&A banker will work closely with Pier Luigi Colizzi, head of M&A EMEA.

Currently undergoing a major restructuring globally, Barclays nevertheless has expanded in some areas of investment banking and has had a string of M&A hires. Its M&A and financing groups worked on some of last year's biggest deals, amid an all-time high in global M&A volume, but still didn't break the top-five rankings for advisory. Co-head of Banking EMEA Crispin Osborne said Mr. Calabria's hire would help drive momentum.

Europe's major investment banks in general have been getting smaller to help them eat up less capital. Equities and M&A have been relatively attractive businesses, particularly as other markets have weakened.

Mr. Calabria founded CMC Capital to advise European companies on M&A, fundraising and capital structures. He held senior roles at Merrill Lynch and, before that, Credit Suisse Group, working on iconic deals including the 2006 tie-up of ArcelorMittal. So-called rainmakers such as Mr. Calabria have been in demand to tap the M&A surge and advise their longtime clients. Last week, HSBC Holdings PLC hired deal maker Matthew Westerman from Goldman Sachs to be its co-head of global banking.

Barclays's new chief executive, Jes Staley, set out a new strategy last week that includes exiting Africa and scaling down the investment bank. Mr. Staley said Barclays's investment bank should make up around one-quarter of group capital, although that percentage will rise as the Barclays Africa stake is sold. Tom King, the investment bank head, left last week and a replacement hasn't been named.

Write to Margot Patrick at margot.patrick@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 07, 2016 07:25 ET (12:25 GMT)

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