NEW YORK, May 15 (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs ( GS ) told

Reuters it has hired two investment bankers, Kerry Burke and

Eddie Rubin, from Evercore ( EVR ) and Lazard ( LAZ ),

respectively, as part of a push to double down on its business

that focuses on advising on deals worth up to $2 billion.

Best known for its advisory work on mega deals, Goldman has

been making a push in recent years to advise on smaller

transactions to boost and diversify its revenue.

Burke, who focused on the retail and apparel sectors at

Evercore ( EVR ), will join Goldman in August, while Rubin, who advises

on deals in the digital infrastructure industry, joined the bank

in April.

Goldman set up the unit, called the cross markets group

(CMG), in 2019 and tasked veteran banker David Friedland to run

it, as Goldman sought to increase its share of fees from

advising on smaller acquisitions.

"Our people who are doing middle-market deals are excited

about the entrepreneurial aspect of the business - they deal

with family-owned businesses, founder-run businesses, sponsor

portfolio companies and companies that are growing rapidly. This

is all highly attractive business for GS," said Friedland, who

is a partner at Goldman.

Friedland has held various titles during his 26 years at

Goldman, and spent a majority of his career advising top clients

in the consumer and retail industry. Notable deals Friedland has

advised on include Brookfield Property's ( BPYPN ) takeover of

mall operator GGP, and Las Vegas Sands' ( LVS ) $6.3 billion

sale of its Vegas properties, including the Venetian casino

resort.

The CMG unit, which currently houses 200 employees, focuses

on covering five industries - consumer & retail, real estate,

financial institutions, technology media & telecom, and natural

resources - that are led by 10 senior bankers. Goldman recently

moved an M&A banker, Todd Byers, to the CMG unit to drive

private equity dealmaking.

Over the past few years, top boutique investment banks

including Evercore ( EVR ), Centerview Partners and PJT Partners,

embarked on aggressive hiring sprees for top dealmakers as they

sought to capture a bigger share of advice on mega deals that

generate huge paydays for advisers.

That strategy has resulted in more opportunities for Wall

Street powerhouses like Goldman, Morgan Stanley ( MS ), and

JPMorgan Chase ( JPM ) to mop up fees on mid-market deals that

are being passed on by boutique advisory firms and other

top-tier rivals.

Moreover, a slowdown in dealmaking coupled with a tougher

regulatory environment has forced top banks to hunt for newer

opportunities to generate fees.

According to data from Dealogic, the number of M&A

transactions worth between $500 million and $2 billion has risen

19% in the Americas and EMEA to 206 so far this year. Goldman

has advised on 39 of those deals this year, up 44% from the same

period last year.