MOVES-Paul Tomasic leaves Citi to join RBC as head of healthcare M&A- sources

By Anjuli Davies

LONDON, July 21 (Reuters) - Healthcare M&A banker Paul Tomasic has left Wall Street bank Citi to join Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) to lead its healthcare investment banking coverage in Europe, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Monday.

Tomasic, whose team at Citi recently advised Shire on its 32 billion pound ($54.58 billion) acquisition by U.S. rival AbbVie

Before that, he had worked at UBS (NYSEArca: FBGX - news) , also covering the healthcare industry. He is currently on gardening leave and is expected to join RBC in around three months, said the sources.

Citi and RBC declined to comment.

The move follows similar hires from Citi including that of Dimitrios Georgiou to head up industrials coverage in the region and David Plowman to cover consumer and retail.

Mergers and acquisitions activity in the healthcare sector worldwide has risen 209 percent to total $338 billon compared to the same period last year, Thomson Reuters data show, with a particular rush by U.S. firms to move their tax bases to Europe. ($1 = 0.5863 British Pounds) (Reporting by Anjuli Davies; Editing by Sophie Sassard)