BarCap hires ABN bankers to boost Asia, M&A

LONDON, May 13 (Reuters) - British bank Barclays Plc (BARC.L: Quote, Profile, Research) said its investment banking arm had hired a team from ABN AMRO to build up its corporate advisory business in fast growing markets in Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere.

Barclays Capital said the appointments will "significantly enhance" its ability to advise clients on corporate strategy, mergers and acquisitions, financing and risk management.

BarCap appointed Jitesh Gadhia, Marc Holtzman, Simon Hargreaves, Jason Rynbeck and Frank Hancock as managing directors. Gadhia will be global head of advisory.

It said they had built a strong corporate advisory business at ABN -- whose investment banking business has been bought by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L: Quote, Profile, Research) -- focused on Asia, central and eastern Europe, and the Middle East, as well as developed markets.

They will report to John Winter, BarCap's head of European investment banking & debt capital markets.

(Reporting by Steve Slater)