Barclays' private markets M&A specialist left for something different

It has been a difficult few years to work in private equity, where exit opportunities are hard to come by. So too, then, has it been difficult for the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) bankers helping execute those sales. Barclays previously had a standalone 'Americas sell-side M&A' division focused on those exits but things have changed after both its co-heads left for something new.

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Earlier this month, Rob Edgell left Barclays to join TD Securities as an MD. Rather than keeping his private markets focus, Edgell has joined as its head of US energy M&A. He spent the last 20 years at Barclays, five of which were within sell-side M&A. Bloomberg reported that he was made co-head of the division alongside Kassem Shafi in 2023. Edgell worked on transactions for a variety of firms before that, including energy firm Chevron and electronics firm Toshiba.

Shafi left Barclays back in 2024 for credit investment management firm AGL. At Barclays, he simultaneously held the title of global head of private capital advisory; this is a sector of banking that has exploded in popularity in recent years precisely because of how infrequent exits have become. These teams help execute transactions on the secondaries market, in which stakes in a private equity vehicle are sold from one investor (e.g. a pension or endowment fund) to another. These are good for PE firms as they dampen some of the immediate pressure to exit promising investments that haven't come good yet. These are also divisive as PE firms are able to earn carried interest relative to its valuation as of the secondary transaction, rather than the price it was first bought for. Barclays declined to comment on whether it had named a new head of private capital advisory.

With both its co-heads gone, Barclays seems to have soured slightly on sell-side advisory. It's no longer a standalone division and sits within the broader M&A team.

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