By David French

(Reuters) – Investment banker John LaVoie is joining Citigroup to head up its U.S. West Coast private equity dealmaking unit, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters on Tuesday.

LaVoie, who has covered buyout firms for 24 years, will be based in San Francisco and report to Michael Marcus and Michael Quadrino, who are the co-heads of Citi’s global asset managers unit in North America.

He joins the New York-based bank from Wells Fargo, where he was responsible for growing its private equity M&A business on the West Coast. Prior to Wells Fargo, LaVoie worked at JPMorgan Chase and RBC Capital Markets where he advised on deals involving buyout firms.

“John’s combination of skills and deep relationships in the large West Coast sponsors market will add to (our) strong momentum and enhance Citi’s impact with client segments, particularly those in tech and healthcare,” Marcus and Quadrino said in the memo.

A spokesperson for Citi confirmed the contents of the memo.

The latest hire comes at a time when buyout firms, armed with tens of billions of dollars, are preparing to deploy the capital and ramp up dealmaking as the U.S. Federal Reserve has started cutting interest rates.

Lower rates bode well for private equity firms, whose debt-fueled buyouts were hit hard by the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes in the aftermath of the pandemic to fight inflation.

For the quarter ended September 30, global private equity-led buyouts jumped 42%, compared to the same period a year earlier, according to Dealogic data.

Notable private equity deals that Citi has advised on recently include Elliott Investment Management’s $7.3 billion bid for refiner Citgo Petroleum, and Lone Star Funds’ $3 billion purchase of the commercial and residential fire business of Carrier Global.

(Reporting by David French in New York; editing by David Evans)