Citi Hires Morgan Stanley Exec to Sell Assets

Citigroup (C Quote) has hired Morgan Stanley (MS Quote) executive James von Moltke to lead the troubled company's continued asset divestitures.

Von Moltke will head up the company's Corporate Mergers & Acquisitions team. He will replace Vince Fandozzi, who will work with von Moltke to assist in the transition and then be transferred to another senior position within the company, according to an internal memo distributed Wednesday to employees by CFO Ned Kelly and Vice Chairman Lewis Kaden.

Von Moltke will report to both Kelly and Kaden. He is expected to begin his position in July, according to a Citi spokesman.

Citi has been paring down its balance sheet and risk as it seeks to shore up capital and redirect the company into a more tailored global bank.

Fandozzi and his team "successfully led many critical divestitures over the last 18 months," including most recently the closing of the joint venture between Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley earlier this week as well as the sales of Nikko Cordial and Citi's interest in Brazilian card network Redecard, Citi said.

Von Moltke spent 17 years at Morgan Stanley where he was an investment banker to financial institutions. More recently he was Managing Director to Morgan Stanley's financial institutions group and head of Global Securities Industry investment banking practice. Prior to working for Morgan Stanley, von Moltke served in a similar capacity for JPMorgan Chase (JPM Quote).

According to Bloomberg, von Moltke advised the American Stock Exchange on its $260 million sale to NYSE Euronext (NYX Quote). He also advised the IntercontinentalExchange (ICE Quote) on a purchase of inter-dealer broker Creditex Group, among other deals, including Intercontinental's unsuccessful bid for the Chicago Board of Trade two years ago. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME Quote) eventually bought the Chicago Board of Trade.