GOLDMAN SACHS HIRES FORMER BARCLAYS M&A HEAD, PAUL PARKER

Paul Parker, former head of Barclays mergers unit.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), this year’s top-ranked takeover adviser, hired Paul Parker to be a co-chairman of its mergers and acquisitions group less than three months after he leftBarclays Plc. (BARC)

Parker, 51, served as global head of finance at London-based Barclays before being named to run the worldwide mergers and acquisitions in October. He decided to leave in May after a reorganization of the bank that prompted the departure of Hugh “Skip” McGee, who ran the business in the Americas.

At Goldman Sachs, Parker will be co-chairman of the M&A group with Tim Ingrassia and Jack Levy, Michael DuVally, a spokesman for the New York-based firm, said yesterday. The post is a senior position dealing directly with clients. Gregg Lemkau and Gene Sykes are the group’s global heads, running the business.

Banks have been hiring in corporate finance amid a 71 percent surge in M&A to $2.6 trillion this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Citigroup Inc. saw their combined revenue from investment banking rise 6.7 percent to $9.17 billion in the first half of 2014, led by gains in equity underwriting and advising on mergers.

Parker joined Barclays through the British bank’s purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. North American operations out of bankruptcy in September 2008 after talks to acquire all of the New York-based firm collapsed.

The Financial Times reported Parker’s appointment earlier yesterday.