Merrill hires Jonathan Yip from Credit Suisse

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has hired Jonathan Yip as a director focusing on China debt coverage, according to sources close to the situation. Yip, who is currently on gardening leave, previously worked as a director at Credit Suisse for seven years, covering high-yield debt origination, with a focus on China and Indonesia.

Yip will cover both investment-grade and high-yield China debt at Bank of America Merrill Lynch and will report to Ranobir Mukherji, head of debt capital markets for Asia ex-Japan and Australia. He is expected to join the firm in September.

Jimmy Choi, Merrill’s head of structured debt products, will continue to run the high-yield desk and Yip will help him in covering China.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch has been hiring aggressively to expand its debt team during the past year-and-a-half and observers note that this is a continuation of that theme.

China is a critical market for debt issuance — both in terms of volume and fees. High onshore lending rates and tight liquidity have forced scores of borrowers to tap the dollar market. According to Dealogic, the total amount of US dollar bond issuance from China year-to-date has hit a record of $16.9 billion and has already surpassed last year’s total issuance.

In particular, Chinese borrowers have dominated the high-yield market, with only muted issuance from countries such as Indonesia and the Philippines.

According to Dealogic, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is ranked 11th in US dollar high-yield bond league tables year-to-date, slipping back from second place last year. Observers note that while Merrill has strong relationships in China, particularly with Chinese real estate companies, there has been a slew of non-property Chinese issuance this year, which could be one of the reasons why the firm has slipped back in the rankings.