(Bloomberg) -- The head of Deutsche Bank AG’s distressed products group, Gavin Colquhoun, is set to leave the German lender in December after 22 years, according to an internal memo seen by Bloomberg.
The bank has hired Frank Kotsen from BNP Paribas SA to lead its European Distressed Debt division, Chetan Shah, the bank’s head of global financing and credit trading, said in the memo sent on Tuesday. Kotsen will join in November and will report to Anirban Lahiri, while Colquhoun is leaving to pursue new opportunities, according to the memo.
Kotsen was BNP’s global head of distressed. He had joined the French lender in February last year, his Linkedin profile shows, and left last month, according to people familiar with the matter.
Deutsche Bank and BNP spokespeople declined to comment, as did Kotsen.
Distressed debt, which sits within the credit trading unit overseen by Shah, is a key revenue maker for Deutsche Bank. In recent years, the group made an enormous profit betting on the recovery of Zim Integrated Shipping Services Ltd. It also spearheaded litigation over Lehman Brothers securities once discarded as worthless, but which are now set for a payout after a successful court appeal.
Earlier this year, the German lender hired Robbie Harris from HSBC Holdings Plc as head of its team of analysts of distressed situations, reporting to Colquhoun. The distressed products group also added two directors in London, Adel Taleb, who used to be a vice president in that group before joining credit fund Taconic Capital Advisors in 2022, and Martin de la Concha Salama, who was at Bayside Capital.
--With assistance from Steven Arons.
(Updates with details of other hires in the distressed group in Europe this year.)
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