Richard King has joined UBS as part of the Swiss bank's China coverage team. King reports to Henry Cai who is chairman of investment banking for Asia and also specifically leads the China investment banking team. King is expected to have a focus on real estate, enhancing coverage of this area for UBS. He joins as a managing director.
King started at UBS earlier this month.
King has been poached from Nomura where he was a managing director covering Hong Kong conglomerates and the real estate sector. He went on gardening leave early last month. He joined Lehman Brothers in 2007.
After King's departure, Dan McNamara, who started at Nomura in November, was appointed head of the financial institutions group and head of real estate. Nomura poached McNamara from Citi in August to run FIG.
The past year has been an active one for capital markets deals in the real estate sector as a number of Chinese issuers have come to market. UBS has cornered a fair share of this business given the strength of its China franchise. Deals it has worked on include: the IPOs for Longfor Property and Glorious Property; and follow-on offerings for Renhe Commercial Holdings and Hopson Development.
However, some specialists expect the real estate market in Asia to move towards higher value-added products, as is the case in more mature markets. The fact that UBS is hiring King suggests the bank is enhancing its focus on real estate, at a time when revenues from the sector could be set to grow.
