Good evening,

Deutsche Bank is set to lose one of its most experienced operatives in Australia, industry veteran Hugh Macdonald.

Street Talk understands Tuesday was Macdonald’s last day with the European bank after 16 years, which included four as its local head of investment banking. He finished up in the top job in March, handing the reins to ex-Morgan Stanley banker Emma-Jane Newton and taking on the role of global vice-chairman.

After a stint at Citi in the mid-2000s, working alongside future JPMorgan boss Simon Ranson, MacDonald joined Deutsche Bank in 2008 to run the real estate, gaming and lodging (REGAL) team, adding managing director to his title in 2009. There, he ran a swath of market-moving deals, advising Unibail-Rodamco on its $32 billion deal with Westfield, Frasers Centrepoint Trust’s acquisition of Australand, Wynn Resort on its Crown Resorts approach, and Korean steel giant Posco on its takeover of Senex Energy.

Other roles included advising the NSW government on the Virgin Australia restructuring and Dexus on its acquisition of CPA, where he made Deutsche’s team famous for building stakes in M&A targets using derivative structures.

As head of investment banking, MacDonald was tasked with rebuilding Deutsche’s business after it made a large-scale retreat from Australia’s financial markets in 2019, shutting down its equities trading and research units. Today, Deutsche has a growing corporate transaction and credit footprint after going on a hiring spree. However, snatching market share will be a tall order for the German bank in Australia’s saturated advisory sector.

Although Macdonald is taking a break for now, he’s not hanging up his boots yet. He has one eye on the next leg of opportunities, and another on a holiday to Europe.

Read the full story tomorrow and more on the Street Talk page.

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Click here for the latest equity market wrap.