Bank of America Merrill Lynch has appointed Patrick Steinemann and Richard Zhang as co-heads of its Asia industrials investment banking team, according to a memo the firm sent to staff yesterday.
The appointments come during a tough period for many global investment banks in Asia, which have struggled amid subdued Asian equity markets. BoA Merrill responded in January by cutting 15 managing directors in an effort to slim down its business in the region. Globally, it is striving to eliminate 30,000 jobs during the next few years as part of an effort to cut $5 billion from its annual costs by 2014.
But the bank said in the memo that it considers Asia’s industrials sector a “key strategy opportunity” for growth capital, public market financing and mergers and acquisitions.
Zhang joins from Citi, where he was head of Greater China metals and mining investment banking. He started his career at Merrill Lynch as an associate on the corporate finance team in Hong Kong. Steinemann has been with the firm since 1998, most recently covering Asia-Pacific capital goods and automotive sectors.
Both will be based in Hong Kong and will be responsible for coverage of industrial sector clients across Asia. They will report to Jayanti Bajpai and Jiro Seguchi, co-heads of Asia-Pacific investment banking, and Greg Kelly, John Pratt and Mitch Theiss, co-heads of the bank’s global general industries group investment banking division.
