Morgan Stanley promotes senior bankers in U.S., Europe

Morgan Stanley has promoted several senior bankers to positions overseeing mergers and acquisitions in the United States and Europe, following a shakeup at the top level of that division last month.

Bob Eatroff and Jim Head were named co-heads of M&A in the Americas, while Colm Donlon and Johannes Groeller were named to the same positions in Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Morgan Stanley also named Susie Huang and Michele Colocci as vice chairmen of investment banking. Colocci had been head of European M&A and will remain chairman of M&A in that region.

The appointments were announced in internal memos reviewed by Reuters, and take effect January 1.

Morgan Stanley spokeswoman Mary Claire Delaney confirmed the contents of the memos.

Last month, Morgan Stanley announced that Paul Taubman, the firm's top investment banker who co-headed the entire institutional securities division, was leaving, with responsibilities to be consolidated under his counterpart, Colm Kelleher.

At the same time, Mark Eichorn and Franck Petitgas were promoted to co-heads of the investment banking unit. The promotion of Eichorn, who had previously overseen M&A in the Americas, left that job unfilled, while Colocci's move created an opening in Europe.

Like competitors across Wall Street, Morgan Stanley is dealing with a sharp slowdown in M&A and other advisory work.

The bank ranked second place in global M&A during the first three quarters of 2012 and brought in $915 million from its advisory business during the first nine months of this year, down 31 percent from the same period in 2011.

Morgan Stanley's investment banking business, which also includes stock and bond underwriting, has delivered $2.7 billion in year-to-date revenue, down 19 percent from a year ago.

(The story corrects Eichorn's previous title in fourth-last paragraph to head of M&A in the Americas)

(Reporting by Lauren Tara LaCapra; Editing by Phil Berlowitz)