London - Barclays Capital, the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC, today announced the appointments of Matthew Ponsonby and Mark Warham as Co-Heads of Mergers & Acquisitions, Europe. These appointments continue the expansion of Barclays Capital’s Investment Banking and Equities businesses globally.

They will work to accelerate further the build out of Barclays Capital’s advisory capabilities worldwide to offer clients a consistent global approach with local expertise; meeting their needs across M&A, fixed income and equities. Both will leverage the strong client relationships that Barclays Capital has with corporate and financial sponsor clients in Europe and around the world to establish a truly global cross-border M&A franchise. These appointments underscore Barclays Capital’s commitment to establish itself as one of the leading full-service investment banks globally.

Mr Ponsonby and Mr Warham will be based in London, reporting jointly to Paul Parker, Head of Global M&A, based in New York, and John Winter, Head of Investment Banking, EMEA, based in London. Both new hires will partner with Barclays Capital’s existing regional Heads of M&A to deliver global coverage for its clients.

“We are delighted that Matthew and Mark have joined Barclays Capital, bringing with them impeccable credentials as world-class advisory professionals. The continuing build out of our advisory capabilities in Europe and Asia Pacific, combined with our strong US franchise, will offer clients a unique global perspective and exceptional local and cross-border M&A capabilities,” said Mr. Parker.

Barclays Capital has grown its market share within the global M&A market with industry leading transactions for Pfizer on their pending US$64.5bn acquisition of Wyeth, the recently announced US$8.6bn merger of Verizon access lines with Frontier Communications, and the sale of the Morton Salt Division to K&S AG for Dow Chemical. The US M&A business continues to be top five in announced M&A rankings, broadly represented in all major sectors.

During Mr Ponsonby’s 19 years in investment banking he has built lasting client relationships across a broad range of sectors and geographies, has held leadership positions globally whilst demonstrating outstanding execution skills. In his eleven year tenure at Citigroup, he most recently served as Global Co-Head of Infrastructure Investment Banking. Previously, he served as Co-Head of European Utilities, as well as Head of the Advisory Group in Japan (Nikko Citigroup). Mr Ponsonby joined Citigroup in 1998, following eight years focusing on UK investment banking at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell. He started his career at Andersen Consulting (Accenture) in 1987. Mr Ponsonby’s banking relationships have most recently included meaningful transactions for International Power, Vattenfall and a broad range of European corporates advising on over US$170bn of transactions in multiple jurisdictions.

Throughout his career, Mr Warham has been the lead banker to many of the most recognisable companies across a broad range of sectors. He was most recently Chairman of UK Investment Banking and formerly Head of UK M&A at Morgan Stanley. In 2006 and 2007, Mr Warham served as Director General for the Takeover Panel, the independent body which regulates Mergers and Takeovers in the UK market. He began his investment banking career as Investment Controller at 3i plc in 1982. In 1986, he joined Schroders’ Investment Banking Division where he served as a senior mergers professional before moving to Morgan Stanley in 2000. Mr Warham has a proven track record as a trusted advisor to a vast number of leading global companies, including Scottish Power (on its sale of Pacificorp); Securicor (on its merger with Group 4); Songbird (on its acquisition of Canary Wharf); ICI (including the sale of its ingredients business); Wittington (on its acquisition of Selfridges); and Sabre (on its acquisition of Lastminute). 

“Matthew and Mark will lead a team that will deliver world-class M&A advisory and execution capabilities to our clients. Both are talented and respected advisory professionals and their addition demonstrates the firm’s commitment to providing integrated advisory, risk management and financing services to our clients on a global basis,” said John Winter, Head of Investment Banking, EMEA.

ENDS

Notes for Editors

For further information please contact:

Jon Laycock, Barclays Capital Communications
+44 207 773 4324 
jon.laycock@barcap.com

About Barclays Capital’s Regional M&A Leadership Team

Gary Posternack is Head of M&A, Americas, based in New York.

Jason Rynbeck is Head of M&A, Asia Pacific, based in Hong Kong.

Simon Hargreaves is Head of M&A, Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Middle East and Africa, based in London.

About Barclays Capital

Barclays Capital is the investment banking division of Barclays Bank PLC. With a distinctive business model, Barclays Capital provides large corporate, government and institutional clients with a full spectrum of solutions to their strategic advisory, financing and risk management needs. Barclays Capital has offices around the world, employs 20,000 people and has the global reach, advisory services and distribution power to meet the needs of issuers and investors worldwide.

For further information about Barclays Capital, please visit our website www.barclayscapital.com.