MOVES-Deutsche Bank hires Goldman FIG banker Kakuta: memo

By Olivia Oran

July 25 (Reuters) - Deutsche Bank AG has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc financials banker Eri Kakuta, according to an internal memo on Tuesday.

Kakuta, who will report to group co-head Celeste Guth, will focus on advising banking clients on cross-border deals with Japanese companies.

A Deutsche Bank spokeswoman confirmed the hire.

Kakuta is the second female managing director hired by Guth, who also joined the German bank from Goldman in September 2015. Kakuta began her career at Morgan Stanley and joined Goldman in 2007, becoming a managing director two years later.

Deutsche Bank has hired five other managing directors in its financial institutions group in the last two months, including Adora Whitaker from Bank of America Corp, Bruce Harting from Credit Suisse AG, Meir Lewis from Morgan Stanley and Tommaso Zanobini from Jefferies Group.

The team lost three senior financials bankers to RBC Capital Markets earlier in the year.

Deutsche Bank's financial institutions group has worked on recent deals including Invitation Homes Inc's $1.5 billion initial public offering, a $400 million IPO for Gores Holding II and the financing for SoftBank Group Corp's acquisition of Fortress Investment Group LLC.

Industrywide, financials-focused M&A fell 11 percent during the first six months of the year, according to Thomson Reuters data.

(Reporting by Olivia Oran in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)