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By Svea Herbst-Bayliss and Anirban Sen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Goldman Sachs on Monday named two veteran bankers to head its mergers and acquisitions (M&A) unit in the Americas, weeks after Chief Executive David Solomon unveiled a major shake-up of the Wall Street bank’s top ranks.

Goldman on Monday elevated Avinash Mehrotra and Brian Haufrect as the new co-heads of Americas M&A, according to an internal memo seen by Reuters.

Both Mehrotra, who currently is the head of global activism and takeover defense, and Haufrect, who is global head of natural resources M&A, will continue to hold their existing roles on top of their new responsibilities.

Russ Hutchinson will rejoin Goldman’s investment banking unit as chief operating officer of its global M&A business, according to the memo sent to employees by Goldman’s global co-heads of Global Banking & Markets, Dan Dees and Jim Esposito.

The contents of the memo were confirmed by a Goldman spokesperson.

The latest moves, first reported by Reuters, co*e weeks after Solomon unveiled a massive shake-up of the bank’s top ranks that co*bined investment banking and trading into one unit, while merging asset management and wealth management.

Mehrotra, a Goldman veteran of nearly three decades, has had two stints leading activism defense – a practice all major banks now use to help defend their clients against demands for changes from investors like hedge funds.

Goldman ranked as the top financial adviser to co*panies targeted by activists in the first six months of 2022, according to Refinitiv data. The bank recently defended on high-profile proxy contests at co*panies including social media co*pany Twitter Inc and Kohls Corp, which won a proxy contest against Macellum Advisors.

Haufrect, who heads Goldman’s natural resources deals franchise, was made partner at Goldman in 2016, according to his LinkedIn profile.

Goldman has worked on a number of high-profile oil and gas transactions in recent years, including Occidental Petroleum Corp’s $38 billion buyout of Anadarko; ConocoPhillips’ acquisitions of Concho Resources and Shell Plc’s Permian assets; and the merger of Rowan co*panies and Ensco plc.

Goldman’s top six dealmakers – global co-heads of M&A, Stephan Feldgoise and Mark Sorrell, and M&A chairmen, Tim Ingrassia, Dusty Philip, Gilberto Pozzi and Gene Sykes – will continue running the franchise, according to the memo.

(Reporting by Svea-Herbst Bayliss and Anirban Sen in New York, additional reporting by David French; Editing by Josie Kao)