Citi doctor quits healthcare investment banking for large pharma company

A medical doctor, who worked as a managing director in Citigroup’s healthcare investment banking team for the past seven years, has quit for a large-cap pharmaceutical company that focuses on rare genetic diseases.

Aradhana Sarin, a managing director within Citi’s healthcare investment banking team in New York, has just joined Alexion Pharmaceuticals as an SVP and head of business development and corporate strategy. The pharma firm has over 3,000 employees globally.

Sarin joined Citigroup in 2010, from UBS where she was also a managing director in its healthcare investment banking division. She spent nine years there, joining from J.P. Morgan in 2001 as an associate within its M&A team.

Sarin has a medical degree, and spent two years as a resident doctor in India and Africa before signing up to do an MBA at Stanford University and switching to banking in 2000.

She’s the second senior departure from Citigroup’s healthcare banking team in recent months. William White, who spent over 11 years at Citigroup, joined Deutsche Bank in June as a managing director and head of U.S. life sciences.

Last year, Citigroup shook up its U.S. investment banking healthcare leadership team. Jennifer Fox and Toby King were named co-heads of North American healthcare, Brad Wolff was promoted to head of west coast life sciences and Anthony Hartley now leads the business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Sarin’s departure comes at a bullish period for healthcare investment banking. Year to date, M&A deals have reached $278.2bn globally, according to data from Dealogic, up from $259.4bn for the same period in 2016.

Most investment banks bolstered their teams last year, but senior appointments are still happening. Deutsche Bank has been particularly active, also naming Philip Pucciarelli as co-head of healthcare investment banking earlier this year as hiring MDs Robert Verdier and Nick Richitt in New York. Jefferies and Mitsubishu UFJ are also hiring in this area.

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