This Deutsche Bank MD has just switched to a struggling hedge fund

Deutsche Bank has been hiring senior bankers in the past few months, but managing directors also been departing - often for roles on the buy-side.

The latest senior banker to secure a role at an alternative asset manager is Lars Lücking, a managing director within its commercial real estate division. But Lücking has departed a struggling investment bank for an asset manager that’s going through its own period of turbulence.

He’s just taken a role as a director of asset management at Fortress Investment Group in London. Fortress, which has about $70bn in assets under management, has been struggling in its hedge fund business for a couple of years and shut its macro hedge fund in 2015. In February, it announced that SoftBank – the Japanese telecommunications firm – had agreed to buy it for $3.3bn.

SoftBank also has connections with other senior Deutsche Bank employees. Colin Fan, the former head of its corporate banking and securities arm, has joined Softbank, which has been making a string of high-profile acquisitions in recent months. Rajeev Misra, Deutsche’s former head of global credit trading, has been running SoftBank’s $100bn technology private equity fund since January.

Lücking joined Fortress earlier this month after close to four years at Deutsche Bank, where he was a managing director focused on debt restructuring, asset management and disposal of non-core assets, predominantly in the German and Spanish markets. He is, according to the Financial Conduct Authority register, only the second recruit in Fortress’ London operation this year.

Before joining Deutsche Bank, spent three years at the investment management arm of Develica Deutschland Inc in London, which he joined from a securitisation role at Citigroup.

Lücking is also the latest Deutsche Bank MD to switch to a buy-side firm. David Waill, who spent 18 years at the bank in leveraged finance, moved across to private equity firm Benefit Street Partners last month.

Contact: pclarke@efinancialcareers.com

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