Citi banker not joining Spain's Naturgy as CEO, sources say

By Pietro Lombardi

(Reuters) - Ignacio Gutierrez-Orrantia, one of Citigroup's top bankers in Europe, will remain at the bank, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, following media reports that he was set to join Spanish power utility Naturgy as CEO.

Gutierrez-Orrantia, Citigroup's co-head of banking, capital markets and advisory for Europe, Middle East and Africa, delivered the news to his team on Tuesday, having informed the bank the day before, one of the sources said.

On Sunday, he had called Naturgy's chairman and CEO Francisco Reynes, two of the people said.

Naturgy and Citi declined to comment.

After rival Iberdrola appointed Armando Martinez as CEO last year, Naturgy’s leadership structure, with the power concentrated in the hands of Reynes, had become an anomaly among large Spanish energy companies.

Unlike the Anglo-Saxon corporate governance model, the main executive at big Spanish companies is the chair, who is in charge of the company's strategy, while the CEO is tasked with overseeing daily business decisions.

(Reporting by Pietro Lombardi, Jesus Aguado and Andres Gonzalez Editing by Mark Potter)