Barclays hires Citi's Todd for European M&A

LONDON (Reuters) - Barclays (BARC.L) has hired mergers and acquisitions banker Mark Todd from Citigroup, a person familiar with the matter said on Monday, the latest in a string of hires as the British bank beefs up in European M&A.

Todd, who will join Barclays Capital as a managing director, advised Imperial Tobacco Group Plc (IMT.L) on its 2007 acquisition of Spanish rival Altadis and waste manager Biffa on its buyout by private equity and infrastructure funds.

BarCap, the investment banking arm of Barclays, bought the U.S. business of Lehman Brothers in September and has set its sights on becoming one of the world's top full-service investment banks.

It plans to hire 65 M&A bankers this year.

Last week, it hired Philippe Deneux from Credit Suisse to serve as managing director and head of M&A for France.

Todd will rejoin former Citigroup (C.N) colleagues Matthew Ponsonby, named co-head of European M&A for BarCap in May, and natural resources specialists Jim Peterkin and Julian Vickers. Barclays has also hired senior investment bankers from Deutsche Bank, UBS and elsewhere.

Todd's departure came days after the defection of Ian Hart, Citi's co-head of European M&A, who has left for a senior investment banking role at Morgan Stanley.

Barclays and Citigroup declined to comment.

(Reporting by Quentin Webb; Editing by Dan Lalor)