Citi's new financial sponsors banker arrived, and an old one is looking for adventure
As has been observed elsewhere today, Ashu Khullar is leaving Citi. Khullar wrote on his LinkedIn profile that he is retiring from Citi after 38 years and an "extraordinary journey," but that he is also "looking forward to the next adventure."
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Khullar was briefly co-head of Citi's global asset managers and financial sponsors business. He moved into this role to the surprise of some people internally in early-2025, despite having spent much of his career at Citi in corporate banking and having previously run Citi's entire business in India after a short period in APAC ECM.
Shortly after Khullar arrived, Anthony Diamandakis, Citi's star EMEA financial sponsors banker and Khullar's co-head, resigned and went to JPMorgan. So, too, did Keith Heller, another financial sponsors banker on the Citi team.
Khullar's own departure coincides with but may not be directly related to the arrival of Klaus Hessberger, whom Citi hired from Lazard long ago in April. After a period of gardening leave, Hessberger wrote on LinkedIn two weeks ago that he had started "an exciting new chapter as co-head of Citigroup‘s global financial and strategic Investor Coverage Group."
The various changes in Citi's financial sponsors team have occurred during the times of Vis Raghavan, also from JPMorgan, who became head of Citi's investment bank in July 2024.
Hessberger and Raghavan previously worked together at JPMorgan and Raghavan has hired many other JPMorgan former colleagues too. At least 12 are now in key roles at Citi.
Citi's M&A business has grown by substantially less than US rivals this year. There are suggestions that clients are waiting to see how the new team beds in. With Khullar gone, they may need to wait a bit longer.
Citi didn't comment. Former colleagues of Khullar at Citi say he is a talented leader who quickly stepped up in the financial sponsors role and developed close client relationships during his brief tenure.
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