Macquarie sees more Wall St hires, deals

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Macquarie Group (MQG.AX), a winner so far amid the financial crisis, will continue its Wall Street hiring spree and keep its eyes open for more boutique acquisitions, the Australian investment bank's top U.S. executive told Reuters in an interview.

Best known as the world's largest investor in public infrastructure, the 40-year-old bank has taken advantage of Wall Street's shakeout by expanding its U.S. staff by more than a third since the second half of 2007. With hires and by snapping up boutique firms, the Down Under bank now has 270 investment bankers across the United States.

Macquarie Capital U.S. head Tim Bishop said the bank still sees opportunities to add staff and win a bigger share of the investment banking market.

"We have a unique opportunity in the U.S. to grow and build out what we've done elsewhere in the world," Bishop said. "What we're doing here is entirely consistent with what were doing in Asia and Australia."

(Reporting by Joseph A. Giannone; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)