Citi hires Davis from Wells Fargo as head of growth equity for North America

By Abigail Summerville

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup has hired equity capital markets banker Cully Davis from Wells Fargo as the head of its growth equity unit in North America, according to a memo seen by Reuters.

The move comes as the Wall Street bank is looking to strengthen its equity capital markets (ECM) group and win more mandates on high-profile initial public offerings (IPOs), as it has recruited top investment bankers from its rivals in recent months.

In September, Citi hired JPMorgan banker Achintya Mangla in a newly created role where he will oversee the bank's capital markets franchise, which includes global debt and equity capital markets.

Wall Street's biggest investment banks are gearing up for a recovery in stock market flotations next year, after market volatility and high interest rates kept high-profile IPO hopefuls on the sidelines over the past year.

In his new role, Davis has been tasked with the effort to help expand Citi's coverage of technology companies and fast-growing startups that are looking to go public.

A spokesperson for the bank confirmed the contents of the memo, which was sent by the bank's global equity capital markets co-head Doug Adams on Wednesday.

The move comes a few weeks after Davis joined Wells Fargo, where he was tasked with leading the bank's growth ECM unit. Davis, who will be based in San Francisco in his new role at Citi, had previously worked at Jefferies as vice chairman of ECM and Head of West Coast technology, media and telecom investment banking.

Prior to Jefferies, Davis spent about 12 years at Credit Suisse as co-head of Americas ECM.

(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)