Jeffrey Kaplan, the current head of the global mergers and acquisitions business at Bank of America Merrill Lynch, has decided to leave for Appaloosa Management, opening the door for the business' chairman, Steven Baronoff, to retake the helm.

Kaplan, 49 years old, is leaving the firm after a 23-year career in which he led Merrill Lynch's private equity banking group before being appointed global head of M&A and corporate finance after the 2008 merger with Bank of America.