Deutsche Bank's Former Head of M & A Henrik Aslaksen to Join Credit Suisse

By Jenny Strasburg

Deutsche Bank AG's former global head of mergers and acquisitions, Henrik Aslaksen, is joining Credit Suisse Group AG in a senior investment-banking role focused on the Swiss bank's biggest clients across the globe, according to an employee memo Wednesday.

Mr. Aslaksen, who left Deutsche Bank last summer after 13 years, will be a London-based managing director at Credit Suisse, with the title of head of strategic client coverage, according to the memo from James Amine, head of Credit Suisse's investment-banking and capital-markets division.

Mr. Aslaksen will start the job next week. A Credit Suisse spokeswoman confirmed the contents of the memo, which was also signed by Marisa Drew and Mark Echlin, co-heads of the European investment bank.

Deutsche Bank has not so far named a new global head of mergers and acquisitions since announcing Mr. Aslaksen's departure internally in June 2015, though people close to the German bank said an announcement is expected soon. A spokesman didn't immediately comment.

Both Deutsche Bank and Credit Suisse are undergoing complex reorganizations and cutting their overall workforce under new chief executives who took over last year. Both lenders have restructured their investment-banking and trading divisions and struggled in both areas during difficult market conditions.

Under Chief Executive Tidjane Thiam, Credit Suisse has said it is investing in core deal-advisory and capital-markets businesses overseen by Mr. Amine as the bank accelerates a pull-back in its trading unit. The trading unit has suffered hundreds of millions of dollars in losses from hard-to-sell positions in recent months, weighing on Credit Suisse shares.

Wednesday's memo said Mr. Aslaksen will be involved in Credit Suisse's "most significant strategic transactions," working with bankers across all industries and with wealthy clients whose relationships overlap with the deal-making business. He'll serve on the European and global investment-bank operating committees.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 20, 2016 09:39 ET (13:39 GMT)

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