Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Michael J. Mazzei as managing director and head of commercial real estate debt capital markets.

Mazzei will be based in New York and will be responsible for the origination and securitization of debt financing, including commercial mortgage-backed securities, syndicated loans and term loans for real estate companies.

His appointment underscores the bank's commitment to the CMBS and commercial real estate debt markets, said Michael Nierenberg, head of global mortgages and securitized products at Merrill Lynch.

Mazzei was a managing director and co-head of global real estate capital markets and CMBS at Barclays Capital since 2004.

Before that, he worked at Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (LEHMQ) for 20 years, where for most of his tenure he was head of CMBS and subsequently co-head of its real estate investment-banking unit.

-By Anusha Shrivastava, Dow Jones Newswires; 212-416-2227; anusha.shrivastava@dowjones.com