Barclays’ co-head of M&A in Europe is taking a two-year secondment from the lender to head up the UK’s deal watchdog, the Takeover Panel.
Omar Faruqui will join the Takeover Panel, which oversees the UK’s code for M&A deals, as director general in May, it said in a 27 February statement. He will take the role from Ian Hart, chair of UK investment banking at UBS, who has been in place since 2021.
The Takeover Panel, an independent body charged with supervising and regulating takeovers, takes on senior City dealmakers from top institutions for the role of director general.
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Faruqui is co-head of M&A at Barclays for Europe, the Middle East and Africa alongside Pier Luigi Colizzi, who will now take sole charge of the unit, according to a later statement from the bank. Duncan Goelst, who is chief executive of Barclays’ Netherlands, business will assume Colizzi’s other role as head of investment banking for continental Europe.
Barclays’ head of Emea investment banking, Tim Main, said that the appointment was reflective of Faruqui’s strengths and expertise in the M&A market and in the UK.
The 48-year-old Faruqui joined Barclays in 2018 having previously worked at Rothschild, Deutsche Bank and HSBC.
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