June 30 (Bloomberg) -- Bank of America Merrill Lynch hired Alan Murray, former global head of energy mergers and acquisitions at Citigroup Inc., as a managing director for energy corporate and investment banking.

Murray, 46, will join the Bank of America Corp. unit in late September and report to Scott Van Bergh, Americas head of energy banking, the company said today in a statement. Murray joined Citigroup in the 2000 acquisition of Schroders Plc, a British investment bank. He had been co-head of global energy at Schroders and previously worked at British Gas.

Bank of America’s Jan. 1 purchase of Merrill Lynch & Co. sparked an exodus of more than three dozen senior Merrill investment bankers, including energy specialists Christopher Mize and Jonathan Grundy. Mize, former co-head of the energy and power practice, joined Greenhill & Co. Grundy, global head of energy and power investment banking, is joining Credit Suisse Group AG to head its energy business in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The bank this month added former UBS executive Steven Niemczyk as global head of asset management investment banking. He will report to Michael Rubinoff, head of global financial institutions corporate and investment banking.

Murray has advised clients including Royal Dutch Shell on its purchase, along with Saudi Refining Inc., of two refining ventures for $2.26 billion in 2001; and Norsk Hydro ASA on its $2.5 billion acquisition of Spinnaker Exploration Co. in 2005.

To contact the reporter on this story: David Mildenberg in Charlotte at dmildenberg@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: June 30, 2009 18:05 EDT