Max Blandon, who has been working in the Asian DCM team since January 2001, takes over as the new head at a time when Morgan Stanley is riding high at the top of the league tables with $5.507 billion of issuance under its belt at the end of the first quarter. And although his appointment has only just been formalised, the transition actually began last year when he arrived in Asia to take over the high yield debt team alongside Simon Morgan, who was to run investment grade debt.
Shortly afterwards, however, the two teams were unified under Voreyer to create an integrated debt capital markets business, with liability management also incorporated into the group under a dotted reporting line. Blandon's new team includes Singapore-based Kate Richdale, an executive director who covers South East Asia and Sally Bednar, an ED who is currently on maternity leave and is responsible Hong Kong and China. Blandon, also an ED, covers the Philippines and Korea.
The Nicaraguan-born banker has been at Morgan Stanley for 10-years, eight of which were spent in New York, most latterly running Latin American corporate coverage. Prior to this, he spent four years at Chase in New York and began his career at Annapolis, the US naval academy.
Voreyer, meanwhile, leaves Asia on a high note, having been global co-ordinator of a $2.7 billion multi-tranche offering for Petronas last week, the largest ever corporate bond issue from Asia. He returns to New York to take up a senior role in leveraged finance alongside three fellow MD's. A trader by background, Voreyer is also a long-standing Morgan Stanley employee, with 19-years on the clock.
He became head of debt capital markets last year, having previously run high yield debt alongside Michael Dee, who ran investment grade debt and is now CEO of Morgan Stanley's operations in Singapore.
The full debt capital markets group, incorporating liability management, numbers 10 professionals, of whom five are vice president level or above. There are also a further two people who run credit advisory. In Asia, Blandon will report to the firm's president and head of investment banking, Mike Berchtold. Globally, he will report to the global head of debt Walid Chammah, while Voreyer now reports to Bill Kourakos, global head of high yield debt.
Commenting on the first quarter's strong DCM performance, Berchtold says, "This year has been very positive for our debt capital business. Maintaining a market share of over 60%, we've been involved in a number of important transactions, including sovereign issues for the Asian Development Bank, the Republic of the Philippines and the Federation of Malaysia, and corporate issues for Hysan Development, PLDT and Petronas."
Separately, Morgan Stanley has also appointed Daniel Lian as head of sovereign research, in addition to his current role as chief economist for South East Asia. He is based in Singapore.
