Tag: asia

Bank of America Merrill Lynch lures Charles Alexander to head corporate banking coverage for Asia-Pacific, just two years after he joined Standard Chartered. We chat with Brian Williams, the man responsible for building the boutique brands of Swire Hotels in the region. UBS is in the midst of trying to hire a team of up to 12 fixed-income salespeople from Goldman Sachs in Korea and Hong Kong. Just two months after he joined the firm, Keshav Sanghi is stepping up to head equities for Citi in India, filling a vacancy created by the resignation of Nikhil Nagle. Cnooc makes its largest overseas investment to date, shelling out $3.1 billion for a 50% stake in Argentine oil and gas company Bridas Corporation. Private equity firm CVC Asia Pacific exits its investment in Malaysian paper manufacturer Paperbox through a sale to a strategic buyer, a trend that specialists say is on the rise. Indian financial services firm India Infoline receives a key Singapore Exchange approval and aims to launch broking services in Singapore in three months. TBank, Thailand's seventh-largest bank, wins an auction for the government's controlling interest in Siam City Bank, valuing the target at $2 billion. Indian hospital operator Fortis Healthcare pays $686 million to become the largest shareholder in Singapore-based pan-Asia hospital group Parkway Holdings. China Mobile aims to tap into the growing potential for mobile finance and mobile e-commerce through a 20% stake in Shanghai Pudong Development Bank. Bank of America Merrill Lynch lures Kaku Nakhate back from J.P. Morgan to become country head for India. Gaurav Gupta will join Macquarie from Nomura to head investment banking for India, a position that opened up when Varun Bajpai moved on to head a new Macquarie India fund ... China's latest attempt to secure natural resources sees PetroChina partner with Shell in a $3 billion takeover bid for Australia's Arrow Energy. Yu-Tsung Chang, head of Asia-Pacific ratings at Standard and Poor’s, talks about the role of rating agencies in Asia’s credit markets. Private equity firm KKR hires Abhijit Sen from Citi as CFO for its India operations. Indian steel maker Essar shells out $600 million for US coal producer Trinity Coal, providing an exit for Trinity's private-equity owner Denham Capital. A decade after ANZ sold the Grindlays franchise and exited its India business, it receives permission to set up its first branch in Mumbai. Nomura makes senior appointments in India, hiring Nipun Goel to head investment banking and Nitin Jain to co-head fixed income. French bank Societe Generale creates a new Asia equity strategist position and hires Todd Martin who used to work at CLSA to staff it. The answer is no, not in droves. And that's partly because banks in China aren't ready to pay market prices.