BNP Paribas has poached Deutsche Bank's Mrinal Parekh for its Capital Raising and Financing Group as the French bank looks to improve on a disappointing year in Southeast Asia, according to a source familiar with the situation.
In order to boost its market share in Asia’s investment banking business, BNP Paribas recently combined its equity and debt capital markets teams as well as its loan business and renamed the division the Capital Raising and Financing Group.
Parekh, who was most recently with Deutsche Bank’s equity-linked team, will join BNP Paribas as a director with a focus on equity capital markets origination and execution in Southeast Asia and India.
Due to his expertise in equity-linked products, Parekh will also be responsible for originating convertible and exchangeable bonds for BNP Paribas clients. He will continue to be based in Singapore.
A BNP Paribas spokesperson declined to comment on Parekh’s appointment.
Parekh will report to Jasper Reiser, co-head of Asia Pacific equity capital markets at BNP Paribas, who is in charge of the bank’s Southeast Asia business. Christopher Wong, the other co-head of ECM, is mainly responsible for business in North Asia.
Before joining BNP Paribas, Parekh spent four years with Deutsche Bank’s equity capital markets team in Singapore and Hong Kong. Prior to joining the German Bank, he was an equity-linked origination banker with Standard Chartered since 2003.
The appointment of Parekh could boost the French bank’s Southeast Asia equity business after a lacklustre year compared to its North Asia business.
According to data provider Dealogic, BNP Paribas has not executed any equity deals in Southeast Asia so far this year. In North Asia, the investment bank managed to participate in a number of deals including Huatai Securities’ $5 billion initial public offering and Red Star Macalline Group’s $931 million IPO in Hong Kong.
BNP Paribas priced three deals in Southeast Asia last year, including Malaysian oil and gas services provider Icon Offshore’s $314 million IPO and Lippo Malls Indonesia Retail Trust’s $30 million follow-on offering.