Wells Fargo hires Alexandra Barth for leveraged finance unit

(Reuters) - Wells Fargo said on Tuesday it has named Alexandra Barth as the co-head of its leveraged finance business, beefing up the lender's ranks as it looks to expand its investment banking operations.

Wells Fargo has made a string of hires to its corporate and investment banking unit, which provides trading, lending and other markets-focused services. The bank has added over 50 senior bankers and traders since 2020.

While historically focused on its retail and business customers, Wells Fargo has been looking to gain a stronger foothold in investment banking in the last few years.

Barth was most recently co-leading leveraged finance at Deutsche Bank, where she spent nearly 25 years.

She will lead Wells Fargo's leveraged finance team alongside Trip Morris and report to Tim O'Hara, the head of banking.

Leveraged loans are targeted at companies looking to do an acquisition, or those that have a high debt load.

(Reporting by Niket Nishant in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)