Rothschild hires three M&A bankers from Lehman

LONDON (Reuters) - Boutique investment bank Rothschild hired three M&A bankers from Lehman Brothers in a sign confidence among smaller banks persists even as the credit crisis ravages their larger rivals.

Rothschild, a more than two centuries old family-owned business, said it had named Antonio Villalon as the co-head of its Global Financial Institutions Group FIG.L.

"We are seeing significant demand for our FIG related independent advice," the bank said on Monday.

Boutique banks are set to gain now that only two major investment banks -- Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) -- have survived the credit crisis independently, while others have been bought or have failed.

Rothschild also named Stephen Fox as co-head of its UK FIG, while Philippe Le Baquer joined to work on FIG deals in continental Europe and on cross-border deals.

All three bankers had joined from Lehman Brothers, most of whose assets have been sold to Barclays (BARC.L) and Nomura (8604.T). Lehman filed for bankruptcy in September.

Rothschild has advised on the Dutch government's 10 billion euro recapitalisation of ING Groep (ING.AS) and the sale of Lehman's Asian operations to Nomura, amongst other deals, it said.

(Reporting by Douwe Miedema)