ôDean brings 27 years of experience with Citi in corporate and investment banking, leveraged finance, loan syndications and debt capital markets to this role,ö Robert Snell, representative director, president and head of the corporate banking division at Citi Japan, is quoted as saying in a press release.
Genevieve Gregor will take over DeanÆs current position as head of acquisition financing and syndicated lending in Australia. Gregor has been with Citi for over 11 years, joining in 1997, and has been working on the loan product with Aziz for more than eight years, focusing on event-driven and acquisition financing. Prior to Citi, Genevieve worked for MIM Holdings (now Xstrata) in various roles for almost eight years.
ItÆs a mixed picture for acquisition finance in Japan, with volumes this year higher than in 2007 û but much lower than in 2006. According to Dealogic, the total value of M&A LBO (leveraged buy-out) transactions that include a Japanese entity as either target or acquirer came to $27 billion for calendar year 2006. In 2007, it was only $8 billion. In 2008 so far, there have been $6 billion worth of transactions, compared with $2 billion in the same year-to-date period last year. In other words, 2008 is looking to be a strong year compared with 2007.
ôOne major trend this year is outbound M&A by Japanese companies. Citi is hoping to capitalise on this trend by having Dean on the ground, complementing the M&A team by offering financing options,ö notes one source close to Citi, adding that it's the first time Citi has had a person in such a role in Japan.
Year to date, Citi has been involved as an adviser in the Oaktree Capital Management purchase of a partial stake in Re-plus Residential Investment, a deal worth $111 million, and has acted as adviser to Bain Capital in its acquisition of D&M Holdings in Japan, a deal worth just under $700 million.
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