VIVHY Vivendi SE (PK)

LONDON—Barclays is planning to create two new M&A teams focusing on cross-border structuring and activism.

Barclays is planning to create two new advisory teams as it refocuses parts of its mergers and acquisitions business under new European M&A head Pier Luigi Colizzi.

The U.K. bank is in the process of establishing a new team focused on cross-border structuring and another on activist investors, as it looks to take advantage of some of the factors driving this year's record breaking deals boom.

Barclays currently organizes its European M&A business by country.

The plans to establish two further specialist teams come after Barclays appointed Pier Luigi Colizzi to lead its European M&A business in July. Mr. Colizzi was promoted from head of banking in Italy to replace Matthew Ponsonby, who took up the role of vice chairman for banking.

The U.K. and Europe have seen a bout of high profile activism in 2015. New York-based P. Schoenfeld Asset Management forced French media conglomerate Vivendi to increase a special dividend and Elliott Management successfully forced change at Alliance Trust, a 126-year-old investment company.

With the establishment of a cross-border team, Barclays hopes to tap into one of the biggest drivers of the surge in M&A activity.

Barclays provided financing to three of the biggest deals in the region in 2015: Brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev's acquisition of the U.K.'s SABMiller, Royal Dutch Shell's deal to buy BG Group, and Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals acquisition of Allergan's generic drugs business.

"We have noticed a very significant acceleration of the business in second half of this year. There has been a continuation of the strong cross border theme, both between Barclays' two home markets of the U.S. and the U.K., and into and out of Europe," Mr. Colizzi said in an interview.

During Mr. Collizi's first six months, Barclays has also expanded its senior European advisory team.

In September the bank hired Axel-Sven Malkomes, previously Socié té Gé né rale's head of health care and chemicals, as vice chair of health care banking.

It has also hired Thomas Westin from Bank of America to co-head its Nordics business, and earlier this month moved Gavriel Lambert from the U.S. to plug a gap at the top of its consumer and retail team.

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 18, 2015 08:55 ET (13:55 GMT)

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