With its aim to replenish its ranks with star performers in North America, Australia’s Macquarie Group Ltd shed close to 15 percent of its U.S. investment banking workforce this month, reports Reuters

Several other banks are reconsidering their U.S. investment banking strategy and Macquarie Group Ltd’s action comes amidst that environment. For example more than two-thirds of the bankers working at its leveraged buyouts group were laid off earlier this week by Japan’s Nomura Holdings Inc.

As a way to gain investment banking market share with corporate America in the last few years Macquarie has focused in the last few years on advising on and financing private equity deals like Nomura. Industry coverage rather than leveraged buyout bankers were targeted in most of the layoffs at Macquarie which were announced internally earlier this month.

Sources said that the job cuts came as Macquarie merged several industry groups in its investment banking division.

Source also said that some chemicals bankers joined the infrastructure team while the industrials group was disbanded. While the healthcare services information technology group was absorbed by the technology and the media and telecommunications group, the consumer group was merged with the gaming and leisure group, the sources told Reuters.

Asking not to be identified because the layoffs have not been announced publicly, the sources said that in total Macquarie’s U.S. investment banking division will continue to employ more than 200 staff.

Reuters also reported citing sources that investment bankers with strong sector expertise who have carved out niches for themselves would be hired by Macquarie. David Berman, who joined Macquarie in 2011 covering gaming, lodging and leisure, the sources added, would be an example of this.

Working with the industry groups to attract top bankers and deals, Jorge Mora, who heads Macquarie’s financial sponsor coverage, has also taken on origination the sources were reported telling Reuters.

As intense market volatility and regulation designed to curb risky lending weighed on traditional lenders, Macquarie made its debut as the top bookrunner of loans backing U.S. private equity buyouts in the league tables for the first quarter of 2016.

“Hung” debt deals which were struggled to be syndicated by many of Macquarie’s competitors were a source of suffering. However sources said that the Australian bank made money on most of the deals it chose to underwrite.

Macquarie is also exempt from U.S. regulations introduced in 2013 to curb the issuance of junk-related loans due to the foreign funding base of the firm.

With transactions smaller than $5 billion, Macquarie continues to turn down many deals and focuses primarily on the so-called U.S. middle-market. Last year due to the fact that its participation in the debt package would have been relatively small, Macquarie refused to finance Dell Inc’s $67 billion acquisition of EMC Corp, the sources said.

(Adapted from reuters.com)