Citi Australia appoints Alex Cartel as Head of Investment Banking for Citi Australia and New Zealand

Sydney — Citi today announced the appointment of Alex Cartel as Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking for Citi Australia and New Zealand.

Mr Cartel is one of Australia's most experienced M&A and ECM advisers and joins Citi from Deutsche Bank Australia, where he was Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking Coverage.

During his 20 year career, Mr Cartel has been involved in a number of significant transactions, including Santos' A$17.9b successful defence of the EIG / Harbour Energy approach, Unibail-Rodamco's US$25b takeover of Westfield, the A$2.65bn IPO of Viva Energy and, most recently, the A$600m sales by Kirin of their Lion Drinks and Dairy businesses to China Mengniu and Saputo.

He will commence at Citi in July and report to Tony Osmond, who is the Head of Citi's Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory function, which encompasses all of Citi's corporate advisory, capital markets and lending business in Australia and New Zealand.

Commenting on the appointment Tony Osmond said: "Alex is a proven leader and one of Australia's most experienced and trusted M&A and ECM advisers. We are experiencing a strong increase in fundraising activity and expect this to grow further to include increased M&A activity in the second half and beyond. The addition of Alex to our Banking, Capital Markets and Advisory leadership team will ensure we have the capability in place to deliver for our clients."

Alex is also President of the Australian Takeovers Panel.

New Co-Heads of Australia and New Zealand Equity Capital Markets Announced

Citi has also named Managing Directors Rob Jahrling and Hamish Whitehead as Co-Heads of Citi Australia and New Zealand's Equity Capital Markets, reporting to John McLean, who heads Citi Australia and New Zealand's Capital Markets Origination function.

Mr Whitehead joined Citi as a Managing Director in 2015 and is based in Melbourne where he leads ECM origination and execution for Melbourne clients, and coverage of transport and utilities sector.

Mr Jahrling joined Citi in 2010 and leads ECM origination and execution from Sydney as well as coverage of the resources sector. He was promoted to Managing Director in 2019.

Commenting on their promotion Tony Osmond said: "Both Hamish and Rob have distinguished themselves since joining Citi, successfully executing on a range of significant equity offerings in recent years."

In the past two weeks alone, Citi has helped a number of Australian and New Zealand corporates including NextDC, Auckland International Airport, Shopping Centres Australasia Property Group and Electro Optic Systems to raise a collective $2 billion in equity, while also assisting companies and government, including NSW Treasury Corporation, Queensland Treasury Corporation, South Australia Finance Authority and Treasury Corporation of Victoria raise a collective $8.5 billion in debt capital markets.

In addition, the bank has extended around $1 billion in balance sheet support to corporate clients and was appointed takeover defence adviser to Stanmore Coal in relation to the takeover bid from Golden Investments.