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Citi Australia and New Zealand has appointed Ben Connolly and Philippe Perzi as co-heads of capital markets and advisory, subject to local regulatory approval.
Connolly is currently managing director and head of real estate for Citi in Australia and New Zealand. He has over 18 years of experience across Australia, Europe, and the United Kingdom advising clients on mergers and acquisitions and capital markets transactions.
Perzi joins Citi from Goldman Sachs, where he was managing director and head of its financial institutions group. He has over 20 years of experience in mergers and acquisitions, equity capital markets, and delivering leveraged and structured finance solutions to clients.
Both Connolly and Perzi will be based in Sydney. They will report to Jan Metzger, Citi’s head of investment banking for Asia-Pacific, and locally to Mark Woodruff, chief executive officer of Citi Australia.
Metzger comments: “Australia is a critically important market for the Citi franchise. The appointment of both Ben and Philippe is reflective of our continued investment in, and growth aspirations for our Australian business. Under their leadership, Citi is well-positioned to capitalize on the strong momentum we are seeing in our Australian and Asia-Pacific franchise.”
Citi Australia and New Zealand’s capital markets and advisory business has had a strong start to the year, acting as financial adviser to Charter Hall Group on the takeover of Hotel Property Investments and financial adviser to Carlyle on its bid for a majority stake in Waste Services Group. Additionally, Citi is currently acting as defence adviser to Insignia Financial.
Within the first three months of 2025, Citi’s debt capital markets business has helped Australian and New Zealand issuers raise US$9 billion in offshore markets, including the largest Australian bank US dollar trade since 2022.
Meanwhile, Tony Osmond is retiring from Citi after a long and distinguished career across the Australia franchise and more recently as vice chair for Japan, Australia and North Asia, the bank announces. He will remain with Citi until 2026 to ensure a smooth transition to a new leadership.
Osmond joined Citi as head of banking, capital markets and advisory for Australia and New Zealand in 2010, before assuming a vice-chair role in 2022. During this time, Osmond has been a valued leader and an outstanding contributor to the growth of the advisory business, Citi says.
