Private Equity News & Analysis

Royal Bank sends leveraged head to US

In a bid to improve its US performance in line with its table-topping European results, the Scottish bank is relocating Euan Hamilton its global head of leveraged finance to New York.

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Euan Hamilton, global leveraged finance head of Royal Bank of Scotland, the biggest bank in the European leveraged finance market, is relocating to New York to drive the bank’s US activity.

A spokeswoman for the bank said the timing had yet to be decided, but Hamilton already split his time between the US and the UK.

The bank has enjoyed a strong run of success in Europe, holding a top three position in leveraged loans, mezzanine finance and leveraged finance revenues in Europe since 2004, according to data provider Dealogic. Already this year, the bank has worked on the buyout of Danish telecoms company TDC, Europe’s largest leveraged transaction.

Its efforts in the US have not been as successful.  It missed out on the $16bn leveraged buyout of healthcare company HCA. In the US market the Scottish bank lies in 11th place for leveraged loans this year, 18th for leveraged finance revenues, 17th in high yield bonds and ninth in mezzanine finance.

According to a report in Financial News, RBS has expanded its US business in recent years but was hit this year by the departure of John Walsh and Ben Cohen, who had built up the US operations. Walsh, who was head of North American corporate capital markets, and Cohen, his deputy, left to start a hedge fund.

Royal Bank won PrivateEquityOnline’s 2005 poll as the best European lending bank.