Goldman Sachs Hires Credit Suisse M&A Banker Kossa - Memo

(Bloomberg) -- Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has hired Credit Suisse Group AG’s head of German and Austrian M&A, Tibor Kossa, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg News.

Kossa, 40, will join the Wall Street bank as co-head of mergers & acquisitions in Germany and Austria, a newly-created role. Goldman Sachs also promoted its Frankfurt-based managing director Christopher Droege as co-head.

“Christopher and Tibor will focus on enriching our M&A franchise in the region by driving commercial opportunities, deepening client relationships and enhancing our leading execution standards," said Goldman Sachs’s head of Germany, Wolfgang Fink.

Fink earlier this year said he was seeking to hire more bankers to bolster the bank’s growth in Europe.

Kossa is leaving Credit Suisse after 15 years, during which he advised clients in energy and utilities, industrials and infrastructure. Most notably, he advised U.S. industrial gas maker Praxair on its multi-billion merger with German peer Linde AG. He also worked on Bayer AG’s takeover of Monsanto Co.

His departure from Credit Suisse comes after after several senior exits at the Swiss bank’s German operations.

Credit Suisse’s Germany head, Helene von Roeder, left the bank earlier this month to become finance chief at real estate company Vonovia SE. Nicolo Salsano, co-head of Credit Suisse’s German investment banking operations until mid-last year, meanwhile took a role as chief investment officer at the European operations of China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co.

To contact the reporter on this story: Eyk Henning in Frankfurt at ehenning1@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Benedikt Kammel at bkammel@bloomberg.net, Geoffrey Smith, Darshini Shah

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